How to Read a Prison Population Report Without Being Misled

A prison population report may count people under a government's jurisdiction rather than only people physically held in its facilities. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) documents jurisdiction, admissions, releases and imprisonment rates in its annual prisoner tables. These distinctions matter when comparing states.

This guide uses BJS's "Prisoners in 2023 – Statistical Tables," published in September 2025, to explain the terms you are most likely to meet. Keep it handy whenever you read a story about prison numbers.

Jurisdiction vs. custody

BJS defines jurisdiction as the legal authority of state or federal correctional officials over a person, regardless of where the person is held. Custody refers to where the person is physically held.

The difference is not small. At yearend 2023, about 154,200 people under state or federal jurisdiction, or 12% of the total, were housed in privately operated prisons (88,600) or local jails (65,600). Practices vary widely by state:

• ✱Four states, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona and Tennessee, held more than a quarter of the people under their jurisdiction in private prison facilities at yearend 2023.
• ✱Louisiana held about 53% of the people under its state prison jurisdiction in local jails at yearend 2023.
• ✱Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Vermont run integrated systems that combine prisons and jails, and BJS counts everyone in those systems as being in prison.

So a state's "prison population" may include people sitting in county jails, and a state with an integrated system may look larger than one that splits jails and prisons.

Total vs. sentenced counts

BJS reports two headline counts. The total includes everyone under jurisdiction regardless of sentence: 1,254,200 people at yearend 2023. The sentenced count includes only people sentenced to more than one year: 1,210,300, or 96%. The rest included 20,700 people serving sentences of one year or less and 22,000 who were unsentenced.

Check which count a story uses before comparing it with another source.

Imprisonment rates

An imprisonment rate is the number of people sentenced to more than one year per 100,000 U.S. residents. Rates let you compare places of different sizes. At yearend 2023, the rate was 360 per 100,000 residents of all ages, or 460 per 100,000 adults age 18 or older. Make sure two rates use the same base before comparing them. BJS also notes that population estimates used in rates can be revised, so earlier years' rates may change from one edition to the next.

Admissions and releases

Population counts are snapshots on December 31. Admissions and releases are totals for the whole year. In 2023, states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons admitted 472,300 people and released 453,200. About 74% of admissions were new court commitments, and about 70% of releases were conditional on community supervision or other requirements.

Read the footnotes

BJS flags reporting differences state by state. For example, BJS notes that before 2023, Wisconsin's sentenced counts were based on time served rather than sentence length, and it warns that year-to-year comparisons for that state should be interpreted with caution. A quick checklist:

• ✱What date or period does the figure describe?
• ✱Is it jurisdiction or custody?
• ✱Total or sentenced to more than one year?
• ✱Is the rate per all residents or per adults?
• ✱Do footnotes flag a change in how the state reports?

What this means for families

When a number seems surprising, the explanation is often in these definitions. A state can report a person as under its jurisdiction while that person is housed in a county jail or a private facility. If you are trying to locate someone, the official locator for the agency with jurisdiction is usually the best place to start. Our find a facility directory and compare facilities tool can help you see who operates a given building.