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West
Virginia
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IMPRISONMENT
AT A GLANCE
Imprisonment
Rate 1977: 67 (40th) Female Imprisonment Rate 1977:
4 (39th)
Imprisonment Rate 2004: 277 (40th) Female Imprisonment
Rate 2004: 48 (30th)
Total
Female Sentenced Prisoners 1977: 44
Total Female Sentenced Prisoners 2004: 444
Percent
Increase 1977-2004: 909%
Average Annual Percent Increase 1977-2004: 10%
Percent Increase 1999-2004: 86%
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IMPRISONMENT
IN WEST VIRGINIA
At
year-end 2004, West Virginia prisons housed 5,026 inmates
serving sentences of more than one year. Of these inmates,
4,582 were male and 444 were female. West Virginia ranked
30th in its 2004 female imprisonment rate with 48 female prisoners
per 100,000 female residents, and 40th in its 2004 overall
imprisonment rate with 277 prisoners per 100,000 residents.
In
1977, West Virginia prisons housed 44 female inmates; by 2004,
the female prison population had reached 444. West Virginia's
female prison population was at its lowest with 29 female
prisoners in 1978 and peaked at 444 female inmates in 2004.
GROWTH
IN FEMALE IMPRISONMENT RATE
Between
1977 and 2004, West Virginia's female prison population grew
by 909% with an average annual percent change of 10.1% per
year.
Throughout
the period from 1977 to 2004, West Virginia's female imprisonment
rate was substantially lower than the average female imprisonment
rate across the states. In fact, between 1977 and the mid-1990s
West Virginia experienced very little growth in female imprisonment.
West Virginia's female imprisonment rate began to grow more
rapidly through the 1990s so that, with a female imprisonment
rate of 48 female prisoners per 100,000 female residents,
West Virginia ranked 30th 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. West Virginia's
1977 ratio was the same as the average across states with
26 male prisoners for every female prisoner. After some fluctuation,
West Virginia's male to female imprisonment ratio (10:1) was
lower than the average across states in 2004.
CORRECTIONAL
FACILITIES
According
to the 2000 Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities,
West Virginia has 11 correctional facilities. Of West Virginia's
11 correctional facilities, five house male prisoners only,
one house female prisoners only, and five house both male
and female prisoners.
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