Prisoners in 2008
December 1, 2009 This report was written by William J. Sabol, Ph.D., Statistician, BJS, Heather C. West, Ph.D., Statistician, BJS, and Matthew Cooper, Intern, BJS. At year end 2008, federal and state correctional authorities had jurisdiction over 1.6 million prisoners. The prison population increased by 12,201 prisoners from 2007 to 2008, the smallest annual increase since 2000. The 0.8% growth during 2008 was the second year of decline in the rate of growth and the slowest growth in eight years. From 2000 to 2008 the growth of the prison population was less than a third . . .
