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USA - New report, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2025
March 11, 2025: March 11, 2025 - USA. New report, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2025
Nearly 2 million people incarcerated in the U.S.
Exposing how mass incarceration harms communities and our national welfare
Prisons and jails continuing to lock up more people after a decade of consistent declines
Today, the Prison Policy Initiative released the 2025 edition of its flagship report, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie. The report offers the most comprehensive view of the nearly 2 million people incarcerated in the U.S., showing what types of facilities they are in and why. It also serves as a primer on the size and scope of the criminal legal system and busts 10 of the most persistent myths about mass incarceration and crime.
562,000 persons are restricted in local jails, 1,090,000 in state prisons, 203,000 in federal prisons and jails, 48,000 in immigration detention centres, 28,000 in Youth Centres, 25,000 in Involuntary Commitment, 7,000 in Territorial Prisons, 2,000 in Indian Country prisons, and 1,000 in Military prisons.
For the first time ever, the report highlights important changes and trends in the criminal legal system, including:
The overall incarcerated population has grown by roughly 2% since our last Whole Pie report, according to the most recent data, although the total confined population is still about 13% smaller than its pre-pandemic size;
Recent growth in incarceration is largely driven by a handful of states, with nine states accounting for 77% of all state prison growth over 2022 and 2023. Conversely, 10 states have continued to reduce their prison population since 2021.
Courts sent 11% more young people to incarceration in 2022 than in 2021, the first increase in youth confinement in over two decades.
“This data tells the story of states taking two divergent paths,” said Wendy Sawyer, Research Director of the Prison Policy Initiative. “The first path works to reduce the number of people behind bars, recognizing that every person who is locked up represents the failure of overly-punitive policies. The other path doubles down on the misguided policies that created the nation’s mass incarceration crisis by locking more people up, destroying lives, and making communities less safe.”
The report includes 32 visualizations that shine a light on the hidden realities of the criminal legal system in America, including:
A pie “slice” showing the 655,000 people in local jails on any given day, including over 450,000 people awaiting trial, and over 100,000 people held by jails for other agencies.
A graphic explaining that, contrary to a popular misconception, only 8% of incarcerated people are held in privately-run facilities.
Graphics offering details about lesser-known parts of the criminal legal system, including involuntary commitment, civil commitment, and jails on tribal lands.
The full report is available at: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2025.html
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2025/03/11/pie-2025/#:~:text=The%20report%20includes%2032%20visualizations,by%20jails%20for%20other%20agencies. (Source: prisonpolicy.org, 11/03/2025)
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