People Incarcerated in the U.S. 
 
Focusing in on the left side of the graphic, there are roughly 1,316,000 State Prisoners. Here we can see 
the types of crimes that they are convicted of. A little over half (54-55%) are incarcerated for violent crimes. 
Drug crimes and property crimes make up the next big sections for the state prisoners. When you add in 
the federal prisoners (about 180,000) and the private sector prisoners (another 150,000+), territorial prisoners 
(11,000), Indian Country prisoners (2,500), we start to see how that number changes to about 1,700,000 
prisoners. 
One of the more notable items here, and what is different from the jails, roughly 93% of the prisoners are 
male. In jail, that number is roughly 85% male. While the total volume of prisoners has dropped slightly in 
the last few years (since 2015), this following graphic shows that we have increased our number substantially 
over the last 45 years. 
Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System
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