In *year_code* year *Budget End Year*, counties across *State* spent *spend_code* *Total Jail Expenditures FY2019_F1* to lock people up in *Number of Jails**Footnote_Total Budget*Beneath these topline numbers, however, the cost of jail varied dramatically from county to county.

Overview

From 1980 to *Budget End Year*, *State*'s jail incarceration rate increased *Increase in Incarceration Rate_State* percent. With the rise of mass incarceration, poor and working people—whether white, Black, or brown—have been harmed by a justice system that criminalizes poverty. Black and brown communities in particular have been disproportionately criminalized and incarcerated. In 2015, Black people in *State* were jailed at *Black to white incarceration 2015_State* times the rate of white people. Put differently, Black people made up *Black share of resident population_State* percent of county residents but *Black share of jail population_State* percent of the jail population. Typically, Latinx people are also disproportionately incarcerated but often underrepresented or misrepresented in data. The number of women in *State* jails has increased *Change in female jail population_State_F* percent, from *Female jail population 1980_State* women in jail in 1980 to *Female jail population 2019_State* in 2019.

*Rural Urban Jail Spending*

*Black Box_Title*

*Black Box_Text 1* *Black Box_Text 2*

*Black Box_Text 3*

*Black Box_Text 4**Footnote_Black Box**Black Box_Text 5*

For each county, the table below presents the jail budget for *year_code* year *Budget End Year*, the percentage of the county budget allocated to the jail, total dollars per county resident allocated to the jail, and the daily jail population in 2019.*Footnote_Jail ADP 2019*Clicking on each column will allow you to sort the data to see how your county compares to others.

Money injustice in *State*

In recent years, counties across the country have invested in the construction of bigger and more expensive jails. In an attempt to offset these costs, local governments have increasingly turned to charging “user fees” that must be paid by incarcerated people and their families. These include jail booking fees, “pay to stay” fees, commissary sales, and fees for warrants or to post bonds. Even more money is garnered from incarcerated people and their families indirectly via telephone commissions—percentages of revenue paid to the local jail by private phone service providers, further inflating the cost of staying in touch with loved ones.

Counties often justify charging “user fees” as a way to pay for the jail. *Average Percent of Jail Budget from Fees and Charges FY2019_F*

Jail user fees harm poor and working people of all races, and this money is disproportionately extracted from Black and brown communities. Black people are locked up in *State*’s jails at *Black to white incarceration 2015_State* times the rate of white people. Typically, Latinx people are also disproportionately incarcerated but often undercounted.

Holding people in jail for other authorities

While the majority of people incarcerated in *State*'s jails are there pretrial—they have not been convicted and, most often, are too poor to pay bail—*State*'s jails are also filled by people held for the *State* *DOC_F* (DOC). *Text 1_State Revenue**Footnote 1_State Revenue**Text 2_State Revenue**Footnote 2_State Revenue**Text 3_State Revenue* Some *State* jails also house people on behalf of other authorities, including other counties and federal agencies—such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Counties typically get paid a per diem rate for each person they house on behalf of another authority, effectively creating a market for jail beds and tying county revenue to continued incarceration.

Learn more about Vera's methodology and data sources.