Jail and Prison Populations Have Decreased Since 2019—but Continued Progress Isn’t Promised
New Vera research raises the alarm about stalling progress and warns that recent gains can’t be taken for granted.
The number of people held in jails and prisons has fallen by approximately 250,000 over the past five years, thanks in part to dramatic drops in the incarcerated population during the COVID pandemic. Yet recent trends indicate some backsliding on that number, suggesting that progress can’t be taken for granted. People in Jail and Prison in 2024, ...