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The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.

Arizona

  • Total incarcerated, prison and jail: 54,922
  • Prison Incarceration rate per 100,000: 596
  • Incarceration rank (out of all 50 states) with 1 being the highest: 5th
More About Justice in AZ

Iowa

  • Total incarcerated, prison and jail: 12,826
  • Prison Incarceration rate per 100,000: 281
  • Incarceration rank (out of all 50 states) with 1 being the highest: 37th
More About Justice in IA

Kentucky

  • Total incarcerated, prison and jail: 40,897
  • Incarceration rate per 100,000: 489
  • Incarceration rank (out of all 50 states) with 1 being the highest: 11th
More About Justice in KY

Louisiana

  • Total incarcerated, prison and jail: 67,297
  • Incarceration rate per 100,000: 776
  • Incarceration rank (out of all 50 states) with 1 being the highest: 1st
More About Justice in LA

Massachusetts

  • Total incarcerated, prison and jail: 19,304
  • Prison Incarceration rate per 100,000: 179
  • Incarceration rank (out of all 50 states) with 1 being the highest: 49th
More About Justice in MA

Ohio

  • Total incarcerated, prison and jail: 70,423
  • Incarceration rate per 100,000: 449
  • Incarceration rank (out of all 50 states) with 1 being the highest: 13th
More About Justice in OH

Oklahoma

  • Total incarcerated, prison and jail: 40,784
  • Incarceration rate per 100,000: 719
  • Incarceration rank (out of all 50 states) with 1 being the highest: 2nd
More About Justice in OK

Tennessee

  • Total incarcerated, prison and jail: 54,802
  • Prison Incarceration rate per 100,000: 425
  • Incarceration rank (out of all 50 states) with 1 being the highest: 18th
More About Justice in TN

State Reforms

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Louisiana

Louisiana is often referred to as “The Prison Capital of the World,” with the dubious distinction of the nation’s highest rate of incarceration. Louisiana’s staggeringly high correctional budget is the third largest state expenditure—but the taxpayers are not receiving an adequate public safety return.

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Kentucky

In between 1990 and 2010, Kentucky’s total correctional spending grew by 214%—going from $140 million to $440 million. The jump in spending coincided with Kentucky’s prison population growing at rates that outpaced the national average. In Kentucky, nearly 40% of all inmates who leave state custody return within three years. 13% of Kentucky children were reported to have had a parent behind bars at some point in their childhood.

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Ohio

Currently, Ohio spends $1.7 billion annually on incarceration, while its prisons—designed to hold 38,000 inmates—are at 134% of their official design capacity. In between 2005 and 2016, the Ohio prison population increased by 15.1%.

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Federal Reforms

Federal Reforms

On criminal justice reform, the federal government has been “leading from behind.” Happily, the states have not waited for the feds to act first, but serving as laboratories for democracy, they have been showing the way.

Join us.