Pavel Prikhodko, Ph.D. Machine Learning
According to research published by Statista.com, the United States has the largest number of prisoners in the world, with about 2.2 million people in prison in 2015. In comparison, China took second place with 1.6 million prisoners, so there is a large difference between the highest and second-highest rate. There are 667,000 prisoners in Russia, which is the third highest. Brazil (607,000 prisoners) and India (411,000 prisoners) round out the top five.
The United States took second place in countries with the largest number of prisoners per 100,000 people. There are 698 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants in America, which is just lower than the rate in Seychelles (868 prisoners per 100,000).
State and federal facilities held more than 1.5 million prisoners sentenced to more than one year in 2014, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report. There were 106,200 women who were sentenced to more than one year in 2014, compared to 104,300 in 2013 (a 2 percent increase). In 2014, 2.7 percent of Black males were sentenced to more than one year, and 1.1 percent of Hispanic males were serving a sentence of more than one year.
Drug offenses were the reason for interment in federal prison for 50 percent of men and 59 percent of women in 2014. In 2013, more than 50 percent of men were serving time in prison for violent offences. About 37 percent of women were sentenced for the same reason.
The numbers regarding prisoners and their religious affiliation are a curious thing. In 2011, a survey of prison chaplains reported that more than 50 percent of prisoners were Protestant. Only 14.5 percent of inmates were Catholic, while about 10.5 percent had no religious preference. Slightly fewer (9 percent) were of Muslim faiths. The survey showed that the religious affiliation of 5 percent was marked as unknown.
The highest share of people in state or federal prison in 2014 was held by Black males: 37 percent of the male prison population. Thirty two percent of the prison population was White males (approximately 453,500 people), and 22 percent was Hispanic males (308,700 people) in 2014. Over 53,100 women were in state or federal prison last year. The number of sentenced Black females was 22,600, while there were 17,800 sentenced Hispanic females.
Black males showed the highest imprisonment rates, outnumbering any other races within any age group. Black males were over 10 times more likely to be in prison than Whites. Black females also had the highest imprisonment rate compared to other races.
About Pavel Prikhodko
Pavel Prikhodko, Ph.D. Machine Learning
Pavel has worked for many years as a researcher and developer on a wide range of applications (varying from mechanics and manufacturing to social data, finance and advertising), building predictive systems and trying to find stories that data can tell.
In his free time, he enjoys being with his family.
Other posts by Pavel Prikhodko:
I’m interested in the breakdown of the demographics in drug offenders. Basically, what % were of what race. Also, did your research dig into the sentencing of the offenders at all?
Good work, by the way.
What is a “Hispanic” race? Is this like a “Germanic” race or “European” race or a “Irish” race? There have traditionally been three/four races: Caucasian, Negroid, Mongoloid, and (sometimes) Polynesian. “Hispanics” can be any of these (yes, Polynesian is unlikely). Linguistic differences do not a “race” make!