As one can see from this list, there are many types of people in the 3,300 plus jails at any given time. In fact, 
at any given point in time, there are 700,000 plus individuals within jails in the United States. This number 
has steadily increased since the 1970s. While there have been some decreases in recent years, it generally 
fluctuates around 725,000 to 750,000 jail inmates. However, this is only one portion of the people in jails. 
It is estimated that roughly 11 million people process through America’s jails annually. Average lengths of 
stay vary by jurisdiction, but a general average is that a person spends around 25 days in jail. As Wagner and 
Sawyer (2018) depict in the picture below, the types of people in jail at a point in time is varied. 
1 
Snapshot of Individuals in Jail 
Who goes to jail? 
Probably one of the most notable items in the snapshot above is the proportions of individuals that are or 
are not convicted. Roughly 63% of individuals in jails at any given time are not convicted. Other notable 
groups are individuals held for other agencies. This could be a matter of processing time or allocations of bed 
space. In all, it is relatively easy to see the volumes and different types of people that pass through a jail in this 
graphic. Still, jails only make up one portion of the brick-and-mortar approach to punishment. Prisons are 
the other large part. 
1. Wagner, P., & Sawyer, W. (2018). Mass incarceration: The whole pie 2018. Available at the Prison Policy Organization 
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018.html 
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