People in Jail and Prison in 2024
Overview
To provide the public with timely information on how incarceration is changing in the United States, Vera collected quarterly data from jails and prisons from mid-year 2019 through spring 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 researchers 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 to create a comprehensive picture of how jurisdictions across the country are using incarceration.
Key Takeaway
The report reveals that the unprecedented decrease in incarceration witnessed from 2019 to 2020 has been sustained into 2024, but only in some places and only for some groups of people. By spring 2024, incarceration had returned to 2019 levels in many states and in rural counties across the board.
Publication Highlights
Jails in rural counties are the closest to pre-pandemic levels of incarceration, with the number of people in these jails increasing 2.2 percent between 2022 and 2024.
Rapid increases in the detention of immigrants by federal agencies between 2023 and 2024 were met and exceeded by a growing number of states attempting to criminalize immigration under state law.
Analysis of government data through 2022 indicates the number of older people in jails and prisons is increasing disproportionately and that racial disparities are worsening.