Prison population growth slows in 2000

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The nation's prison population grew last year at its slowest rate in nearly two decades, according to a report released Sunday by the Justice Department.

The report, "Prisoners in 2000," found the number of Americans behind bars grew by just 1.3 percent. Allen Beck, one of the study's authors, said a dropping national crime rate accounted for the slower rate of growth.

Although the crime rate dropped throughout the 1990s, Beck said the effect on the number of prisoners was delayed by sentencing reforms that kept people behind bars longer.

"The population is finally catching up with the downturn in crime," Beck said.

By the end of the year, the number of inmates in state and federal prisons was 1,381,892. The rate of incarceration at the end of 2000 was 478 sentenced inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, up from 292 per 100,000 residents in 1990.

The slower rate of growth, coupled with the construction of more prisons over the past decade, may help to ease the crowding crunch at state and federal prisons.

The report noted that at the end of the year state prisons were operating between full capacity and 15 percent above capacity, and the federal prison system was operating at 31 percent above capacity.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

But Beck said that compares favorably with 1990, when many state prisons were operating above capacity by even higher rates. He said states also increased their prison capacity over the past 10 years.

"Prisons are crowded, but not as crowded as they were," he said.

In fact, during the last six months of the year, the state prison population declined by half a percent -- about 6,200 inmates -- in the first such decline since 1972.

Other findings in the study:

-- Among states, 13 saw their prison populations decrease. The largest drop was in Massachusetts, where the prison population fell by 5.6 percent. Five -- Idaho, North Dakota, Mississippi, Vermont and Iowa -- had increases in their prison populations of at least 10 percent each.

-- A third of the 2,071,686 people held in American prisons or jails the end of 2000 were incarcerated in the federal, California and Texas penal systems.

-- Black males continued to be disproportionately represented in state and federal prisons, accounting for 46 percent of male inmates, compared to 36 percent for whites and 16 percent for Hispanics.

-- The number of female inmates grew at a faster rate than the number of male prisoners between 1990 and 2000. During that period, the number of female prisoners grew by 108 percent, compared with 77 percent for men.

The survey included inmates in state and federal prisons, local jails, facilities operated by or for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, jails on Indian territory, and juvenile and military facilities.