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Alaska Report

Alaska

IMPRISONMENT IN ALASKA

At year-end 2004, Alaska prisons housed 2,632 inmates serving sentences of more than one year. Of these inmates, 2,458 were male and 174 were female. Alaska's female imprisonment rate of 55 female prisoners per 100,000 female residents is the 25th highest in the country. Alaska's 2004 overall imprisonment rate of 398 prisoners per 100,000 residents is the 24th highest overall imprisonment rate in the country.

In 1977, Alaska's prisons housed 21 female inmates; by 2004, the female prison population had reached 174. Alaska's female prison population was at its lowest with 9 female prisoners in 1980 and peaked at 174 female inmates in 2004.

GROWTH IN FEMALE IMPRISONMENT RATE

Between 1977 and 2004, Alaska's female prison population grew by 729% with an average annual percent change of 14.9% per year.

Alaska's 2004 female imprisonment rate of 55 female prisoners per 100,000 female residents ranked 25th among the states. Alaska's female imprisonment growth trend appears to be far more erratic than the average growth trend of the other states. This could be in part because Alaska has a combined prison/jail population and its imprisonment figures are therefore sometimes conflated with its jail figures. Over the period, Alaska's imprisonment rate was at times higher and at times lower than the average across states. With a rank of 25th overall in terms of its female imprisonment rate, Alaska can be considered average in its punitiveness toward female offenders.

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. In 1977, across the states, there were an average of 26 male prisoners for every female prisoner; by 2004, this ratio had fallen to 13 male prisoners for every female prisoner. Alaska's 1977 ratio was slightly lower than average with 24 male prisoners for every female prisoner. By 2004, Alaska's male to female imprisonment ratio (14:1) was roughly equivalent to the average across states.

CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

According to the 2000 Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, Alaska has 24 correctional facilities. Of Alaska's 24 correctional facilities, 19 house male prisoners only and 5 house both male and female prisoners. None of Alaska's 24 correctional facilities house only female inmates.