Part II: State by State Analysis

by Dr. Natasha A. Frost, Northeastern University

National Overview

U.S. IMPRISONMENT AT A GLANCE Imprisonment Rate 1977:  129              Female Imprisonment Rate 1977:     10 Imprisonment Rate 2004:  486              Female Imprisonment Rate 2004:   64 Total Female Sentenced Prisoners 1977:  11,212 Total Female Sentenced Prisoners 2004:  96,125 Percent Increase 1977-2004:  757 % Average Annual Percent Increase 1977-2004:  8 % Percent Increase 1999-2004:    17 %

At year-end 2004, United States state and federal prisons housed 1,433,793 inmates serving sentences of more than one year. Of these inmates, 1,337,668 were male and 96,125 were female.

In 1977, United States prisons housed 11,212 female inmates: by 2004, the female prison population had increased almost nine-fold, reaching 96,125. The number of female inmates grew every year except for 2001 when the number of female inmates dropped slightly before resuming its upward trend. Between 1977 and 2004, the female imprisonment rate in the United States grew by 757% (with an average annual change of 8% per year).

Female Imprisonment Rates

Between 1977 and 2004, the United States female imprisonment rate (including the federal prison system and the prison populations of all fifty states) grew from 10 to 64 female prisoners per 100,000 female residents.

CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

The source for all correctional facility data in this report is the 2000 Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities (Stephan and Karberg, 2003). According to the 2000 Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, the United States has 1,668 state and federal correctional facilities. Of the 1,668 correctional facilities, 1,287 house male prisoners only, 156 house female prisoners only, and 225 house both male and female prisoners.

MALE TO FEMALE IMPRISONMENT RATIO

The male to female imprisonment ratio indicates the number of male inmates for every female inmate. Although both female and male imprisonment rates have increased over the period of study, a shrinking ratio suggests that the number of female prisoners has increased at a faster pace than the number of male prisoners. In 1977, the United States imprisoned 24 male prisoners for every female prisoner – by 2004, this ratio had fallen to 14 male prisoners for every female prisoner (including all 50 states and the federal system). 

STATE-LEVEL VARIATION

As is always the case, viewing the United States as a whole masks substantial state-level variations in imprisonment practices. Some states are significantly more punitive in female imprisonment rates than others. Although imprisonment rates have grown in all states between 1977 and 2004, that growth has taken different shapes, with some experiencing rapid growth and others demonstrating a surprising stability (particularly relative to other states) long after the beginning of unprecedented growth in the use of imprisonment across the country as a whole.

TEN MOST PUNITIVE STATES

FEMALE IMPRISONMENT RATES 2004

STATE Oklahoma Mississippi Louisiana Montana Texas Idaho Arizona Missouri Wyoming Colorado

RATE 129    107 103 102 101 93 89 85 84 83

RANK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

TEN LEAST PUNITIVE STATES

FEMALE IMPRISONMENT RATES 2004

STATE Rhode Island Massachusetts Maine New Hampshire Minnesota  Vermont  New York Pennsylvania New Jersey Maryland

RATE 11  11 18 18  21   25 28 28 33 39

RANK 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41

Map: State Rates 2004

The color-coded map that follows visually depicts state-level variations in female imprisonment rates. 

Roll over each state to view statistics. Click on any state for state-specific female imprisonment data.

GROWTH IN FEMALE IMPRISONMENT 1977-2004

Sentenced Female Prisoners

At yearend 1977, U.S. prisons housed a total of 11,212 sentenced female prisoners. At that time, only the federal prison system housed over 1,000 women. Fully half of the states (25) had female prison populations of less than 100 and four states housed less than 10 prisoners (Montana, North Dakota, New Hampshire and Vermont).

Although no state had a prison population of over 1,000 women in 1977, by yearend 2004, twenty-seven states housed more than 1,000 female prisoners. Only two states (Rhode Island and Vermont) maintained female prison populations of under 100 women at yearend 2004 (recall that in 1977 half of the states housed less than 100 female prisoners). Moreover, two of the states that had female prison populations of under 100 in 1977 had far exceeded the 1,000 female prisoner mark by 2004. Colorado which housed only 72 female prisoners in 1977, had 1,900 female prisoners in 2004. Mississippi’s 57 female prisoners in 1977 grew to 1,602 in 2004.

Table 1 presents the actual female prison populations in each state in 2004 and in 1977. The states are sorted based on the total female prisoners in 2004 (from highest to lowest).

TABLE 1.  TOTAL FEMALE PRISONERS BY STATE, 2004 and 1977

Female Imprisonment Rates

In 1977, the median imprisonment rate across the states was 7 female prisoners for every 100,000 female residents. At that time, no state had a female imprisonment rate of over 20 sentenced female prisoners per 100,000 females in the population.

By 2004, the median imprisonment rate of 55 female prisoners for every 100,000 female residents was more than five times higher than it had been in 1977. Five states had female imprisonment rates of over 100 female prisoners per 100,000 (Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, Montana, and Texas), and only four states maintained female imprisonment rates of under 20 per 100,000 (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island).

TABLE 2.  FEMALE IMPRISONMENT RATES BY STATE, 2004 and 1977