FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 31, 2024
Contact: Michael Czaczkes, media@vera.org

NEW YORK — Today, the Vera Institute of Justice issued their annual People in Jails and Prison report, which shows that pandemic-era decarceration has stalled. Roughly 1.3 million people are being held in federal and state prisons, up 2.8 percent from 2022. This increase is fueled by the 40 states that increased the number of people in their prisons during this period. The number of people in local jails remained roughly unchanged at around 660,000. Overall levels of incarceration remained at 1.8 million, down 12 percent from 2019, but many cities, counties, and states are building expanded, increasingly expensive jails and prisons.

To provide the public with timely information on how jail and prison populations are changing, Vera collected data for every quarter from 2020 to 2023 and for the first quarter of 2024 (through March 2024). Vera also collected data on people civilly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who were held in local jails, private prisons, and dedicated immigration detention facilities. Vera combined this data with jurisdiction-level jail and prison data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and population data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Key nationwide findings include:

• Rural counties have returned to their high incarceration rates—consistent with a pattern of persistently high and rising incarceration over the last decade. The number of people in jail in rural counties increased by 2.2 percent from the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2024.

• Federal policies have not helped to reduce incarceration. From 2022 to 2024, the 9 percent decline in the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) detained population and 2 percent decline in the federal prison population was counterbalanced by a 21 percent increase in ICE detention.

• Incarceration rates for elderly adults in the United States are high and rising. In 2022, the number of elderly people (aged 55 and up) behind bars was 54 percent higher than the number of young people (aged 25 and under).

• Prison construction is happening in at least 20 percent of states including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska, and South Dakota—which are paying for these prison projects using general funds and pandemic relief money.

• These projects are part of a national jail construction boom: Since 2002, over 1,300 counties have allocated $62.6 billion in public dollars to expand their local jail systems (measured in 2024 dollars). This ultimately increases our nation's capacity to lock people up in jails by nearly 40 percent, an increase that outpaced the growth in the national jail population.

• State governments in places like Texas are criminalizing immigration by locking people up in local jails and prisons. In 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott began Operation Lone Star (OLS), which deploys state and federal law enforcement to arrest people crossing the border on criminal trespass charges. Since OLS began, Texas has used two state prisons, a state jail, and several booking centers to lock people up. According to an analysis by Vera, local judges aided this policy through bail-setting practices that ensured people arrested through the program remained incarcerated pending trial. As of 2024, the program is estimated to cost $11 billion.

New York

• In the spring of 2024, there were 49,177 people incarcerated in New York State prisons and local jails.

• There were 32,918 people in state prisons and 16,259 in local jails.

• The number of people incarcerated in state prisons was up 5.8 percent between the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2024 but is still down 25.7 percent from 2019.

• The number of people incarcerated in local jails increased 2.2 percent between the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2024 but is down 21.9 percent compared to 2019.

California

• In the spring of 2024, there were 153,932 people incarcerated in California State prisons and local jails.

• There were 94,717 people in state prisons and 59,215 in local jails.

• The number of people incarcerated in state prisons was down 3.4 percent between fall 2022 and spring 2024 and is down 24.5 percent from 2019.

• The number of people incarcerated in local jails decreased 4.9 percent between the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2024 and is down 21 percent compared to 2019.

Louisiana

• In the spring of 2024, there were 45,923 people incarcerated in Louisiana State prisons and local jails.

• There were 28,387 people in state prisons and 31,913 in local jails.

• The number of people incarcerated in state prisons went up 4.1 percent between the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2024 but is still down 10.2 percent from 2019.

• The number of people incarcerated in local jails has remained roughly the same between the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2024 but is down 6.3 percent compared to 2019.

Texas

• In the spring of 2024, there were 211,717 people incarcerated in Texas State prisons and local jails.

• There were 150,353 people in state prisons and 71,649 in local jails.

• The number of people incarcerated in state prisons was up 8.1 percent between the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2024 but is still down 5.3 percent from 2019.

• The number of people incarcerated in local jails declined 6.2 percent between the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2024 but is roughly the same when compared to 2019.

The full People in Jails and Prison report is available at https://www.vera.org/publications/people-in-jail-and-prison-in-2024.

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About the Vera Institute of Justice:

The Vera Institute of Justice is powered by hundreds of advocates, researchers, and policy experts working to transform the criminal legal and immigration systems until they’re fair for all. Founded in 1961 to advocate for alternatives to money bail in New York City, Vera is now a national organization that partners with impacted communities and government leaders for change. We develop just, antiracist solutions so that money doesn’t determine freedom; fewer people are in jails, prisons, and immigration detention; and everyone is treated with dignity. Vera’s headquarters is in Brooklyn, New York, with offices in Washington, DC, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. For more information, visit vera.org.