The Nation : Population of Jails Up 32%, Report Says

The nation’s local jail population rose 32% in four years, the government reported, as police made more arrests and facilities housed increasing numbers of inmates from overcrowded state and federal prisons. Officials at the Bureau of Justice Statistics said the population of jails was 296,873 on June 30, 1987, compared to 223,551 for the same day four years earlier. The mid-1987 level was up 8% from the previous year, when it was 274,444. Jails nationwide operated at 98% of their capacities in 1987, compared to 85% of capacity in 1983, the survey said. A jail was defined as a facility that holds inmates after arraignment, usually for more than 48 hours, and is administered by city, township or county officials. Arrests of men rose 8% from 1983 to 1987, while arrests of women rose 17% in that time, the report said. Also, the number of women in jails rose 53%, to 23,920, while the number of men rose 31%, to 295,873.