Local jails held 4% more people in 2022 than in 2021

WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Justice Statistics has released Jail Inmates in 2022 – Statistical Tables. At midyear 2022, local jails held 663,100 persons in custody, 4% more than the year before and 21% more than at midyear 2020. The number of persons in jail custody saw a 25% decline from 2019 to 2020 as local authorities reduced admissions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Though the jail population declined during the pandemic, by midyear 2022 it was back to 90% of its midyear 2019 size,” said BJS Acting Director Kevin M. Scott, PhD.

At midyear 2022, there were:

• 505,700 inmates held for a felony offense, accounting for 76% of the jail population
• 199 jail inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, down from 237 per 100,000 at midyear 2012
• 915,900 jail beds in the United States, 72% of which were occupied
• 4.0 jail inmates for every correctional officer, up from 3.6 at midyear 2021 and 3.0 at midyear 2020.

From July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, persons admitted to jails spent an average of 32 days in custody before release, longer than the 23-day average a decade prior. About 1,300 persons served weekend-only sentences on the weekend before the last weekday in June 2022, down from 10,400 in 2012.

There were 92,900 females in local jails at midyear 2022, who accounted for 14% of the jail inmate population. From 2021 to 2022, the number of females in jail increased 9%, while the number of males increased 3%. From 2012 to 2022, the number of persons age 17 or younger in jail decreased from 5,400 to 1,900, averaging a 10% decline each year.

The racial and ethnic composition of the jail population remained stable from 2021 to 2022. At midyear 2022, about 48% of all persons held in jail were white, 35% were black and 14% were Hispanic. American Indian or Alaska Native persons, Asian persons, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander persons and persons of two or more races together accounted for 3% of the total jail population. From midyear 2012 to midyear 2022, the jail incarceration rate for Hispanic persons decreased at an average annual rate of 3.7%. The rate decreased, on average, at 2.4% a year for black persons and 0.7% a year for white persons.

Findings are based on the 2012–2018 and 2020–2022 Annual Survey of Jails and the 2019 Census of Jails. The report provides updates to preliminary estimates of the 2022 jail population BJS released in September 2023.

Jail Inmates in 2022 – Statistical Tables, written by BJS Statistician Zhen Zeng, PhD; related documents; and additional information about BJS’s statistical publications and programs are available on the BJS website at bjs.ojp.gov.

About the Bureau of Justice Statistics

The Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing and disseminating reliable statistics on crime and criminal justice in the United States. Kevin M. Scott, PhD, is the acting director. More information about BJS and criminal justice statistics can be found at bjs.ojp.gov.

About the Office of Justice Programs

The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, advance racial equity in the administration of justice, assist victims and enhance the rule of law. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.