A new report by the Vera Institute of Justice that shows just how costly jail stays can be for inmates, for their communities, and for taxpayers.
Based on a large-scale analysis of government statistics, original research, and a review of existent literature, the report found that many more people pass through local jails than through federal prisons.
It also found that a large percentage of jail inmates come from marginalized populations, that they often remain in jail simply because of lack of money, and that even a short stint behind bars can have profound negative effects on a person's life.
Here's what you need to know.
There's a ton of people in jail — like, a ton.
You've probably heard the phrase "prison-industrial complex," but judging from the Vera report, "jail-industrial complex" may be more accurate.
Jails and prisons are not the same thing, even though the two words are often used interchangeably. Prisons are run by the federal government or by states. Jails are the responsibility of local governments — towns and cities.
Turns out the vast majority of people who enter detention facilities in the United States are booked into jails. According to the new Vera report, the rate of admissions for the nation's 3,000 local jails is nearly 20 times higher than that of prisons.
Every year, some 12 million people are checked into local detention facilities — the rough equivalent of the populations of New York and Los Angeles combined. On any given day, there are some 730,000 people in jail — that's more than the whole population of Detroit.
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And more people are being sent to jail than ever before, even though the country is safer than it used to be.
The proportion of Americans in jail grew dramatically between 1983 and 2007 — from 96 people in jail per every 100,000 Americans to 259 per 100,000, the report found. In the past two years, the proportion has declined to 231 per 100,000, but that's still considered very high.
The increase in the jail population happened during a period when crime across the country decreased dramatically. Some people may think that the decrease in crime was a result of putting more people behind bars, but Vera's experts disagree.
"Research demonstrates that there is little causal connection between improved public safety and an increasing use of incarceration," the report's authors wrote.
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The vast majority of people sent to jail are legally presumed innocent.
The vast majority of people in jail have not been convicted of a crime, which means they are legally presumed to be innocent. They are typically waiting for a judge and jury to decide whether they are guilty — or, more likely, for a prosecutor to offer them a deal in exchange of a guilty plea without trial.
That means the immense majority of people incarcerated in America have not been determined to have committed a crime, but are being punished nonetheless. They are being held on the presumption that they would pose a risk to the community.
But those assumptions could be mistaken. Most jail inmates would not pose a risk to public safety if released — according to Vera, 75% of all jail inmates are accused of non-violent offenses, such as traffic violations or public disorder.
Vera Institute of Justice
