List of countries by incarceration rate
China. The rate of 118 is for sentenced prisoners in 2015 in Ministry of Justice prisons only. World Prison Brief: "1,649,804 [prisoners] at mid-2015 (via Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators - sentenced prisoners in Ministry of Justice prisons only, excluding pre-trial detainees and those held in administrative detention). The Deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate reported in 2009 that, in addition to the sentenced prisoners, more than 650,000 were held in detention centres In China. If this was still correct in mid-2015 the total prison population in China was at least 2,300,000. ... 118 [rate] based on an estimated national population of 1.4 billion at mid-2015 (from United Nations figures) – sentenced prisoners in Ministry of Justice prisons only. (A total prison population of 2,300,000 would raise the prison population rate to 164 per 100,000.)" See also: Re-education through labor and Laogai.
Prisoner Law
Incarceration rates in the United States have and continue to increase significantly. In comparison to the rest of the world, the United States holds a record for the highest number of incarcerated individuals. In 2015, the prison population estimated approximately 2.2 million people. There has been a rapid increase in the prison population since the 1980s. However, violent crime has significantly decreased from the years 1973 to 2003. In the United States, the majority of inmates are people of color and from low socioeconomic backgrounds.