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Rhode
Island
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IMPRISONMENT
AT A GLANCE
Imprisonment
Rate 1977: 56 (45th) Female Imprisonment Rate 1977:
3 (46th)
Imprisonment Rate 2004: 175 (48th) Female Imprisonment
Rate 2004: 11 (50th)
Total
Female Sentenced Prisoners 1977: 13
Total Female Sentenced Prisoners 2004: 60
Percent
Increase 1977-2004: 362%
Average Annual Percent Increase 1977-2004: 9%
Percent Increase 1999-2004: 5%
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IMPRISONMENT
IN RHODE ISLAND
At
year-end 2004, Rhode Island prisons housed 1,894 inmates serving
sentences of more than one year. Of these inmates, 1,834 were
male and 60 were female. Rhode Island ranked 50th in its 2004
female imprisonment rate with 11 female prisoners per 100,000
female residents, and 48th in its 2004 overall imprisonment
rate with 175 prisoners per 100,000 residents.
In
1977, Rhode Island prisons housed 13 female inmates; by 2004,
the female prison population had reached 60. Rhode Island's
female prison population was at its lowest with 8 female prisoners
in 1981 and peaked at 91 female inmates in 1998.
GROWTH
IN FEMALE IMPRISONMENT RATE
Between
1977 and 2004, Rhode Island's female prison population grew
by 362% with an average annual percent change of 9.2% per
year.
Throughout the period from 1977 to 2004, Rhode Island's female
imprisonment rate was substantially lower than the average
female imprisonment rate across the states. In fact, Rhode
Island experienced far less growth in female imprisonment
than any other state. With a female imprisonment rate of 11
female prisoners per 100,000 female residents, Rhode Island
was the least punitive state in its imprisonment of female
offenders in 2004.
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. Rhode Island's 1977
ratio was substantially higher than average with 40 male prisoners
for every female prisoner. In 2004, Rhode Island's male to
female imprisonment ratio (31:1) remained markedly higher
than the average across states.
CORRECTIONAL
FACILITIES
According
to the 2000 Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities,
Rhode Island has seven correctional facilities. Of Rhode Island's
seven correctional facilities, six house male prisoners only
and one houses female prisoners only. No facilities house
both male and female prisoners.
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