From Prison Policy Initiative:
Easthampton, Mass. — the Prison Policy Initiative released the 2025 edition of its flagship report, Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie. The report offers the most comprehensive view of the nearly 2 million people incarcerated in the U.S., showing what types of facilities they are in and why. It also serves as a primer on the size and scope of the criminal legal system and busts 10 of the most persistent myths about mass incarceration and crime.
Main pie chart graphic from Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2025.
For the first time ever, the report highlights important changes and trends in the criminal legal system, including:
The overall incarcerated population has grown by roughly 2% since our last Whole Pie report, according to the most recent data, although the total confined population is still about 13% smaller than its pre-pandemic size;
Recent growth in incarceration is largely driven by a handful of states, with nine states accounting for 77% of all state prison growth over 2022 and 2023. Conversely, 10 states have continued to reduce their prison population since 2021.
Courts sent 11% more young people to incarceration in 2022 than in 2021, the first increase in youth confinement in over two decades.
Reads the full report here.
|
|
|
|
