The Nation : Prison Population Rises

The U.S. prison population increased 8.6% in 1986, with the Western states reporting the largest gains, the Justice Department reported. The department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics said the number of convicts in federal and state prisons reached 546,659, including 26,610 women. Prison populations in the 13-state Western region increased by 13.9%, the bureau said, compared to 8.8% in the Northeast, 7.7% in the Midwest and 6.3% in the South. States with the greatest increases included Nevada, with 19.5%; California, 18.7%; Michigan and New Hampshire, 16.8%, and Oklahoma, 15.2%.