Pubdate: Mon, 26 Aug 2002
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Page: B1
Copyright: 2002 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Ralph Ranalli

STATE PRISON POPULATION STATIC

County Jail Totals Warn Of Increase

The number of Americans confined in jails and prisons grew by 1.3 percent 
last year to reach an unprecedented 1,330,980 inmates, while the total 
behind bars in Massachusetts remained virtually unchanged, according to 
state correction officials and figures released yesterday by the US Justice 
Department.

But a closer look at the state numbers yielded little cause for optimism, 
according to state officials, even though the number of people in 
Massachusetts prisons and county jails actually dropped 0.1 percent in 2001.

As the state's prison population fell 3.1 percent - a figure that looked 
like good news for a system that lost three lower-security prisons to 
budget cuts this year and which is currently running 29 percent over 
capacity - that drop was offset by a jump in the number of people being 
held in county jails for lesser crimes.

Moreover, officials said, increases in county jail populations are usually 
a harbinger of increases in prison populations, as first-time and low-level 
offenders work up to more serious crime.

That likely increase, combined with a weakened economy and troubling 
demographic trends, led correction officials to predict an overall increase 
in inmate populations next year.

"With unemployment comes crime," state Department of Correction spokesman 
Justin Latini said yesterday. "Populations are on the rise again."

The figures released by the Justice Department yesterday showed that the 
total "US correctional population" - people who are in prison, in jail, on 
parole, or on probation - reached a record high of 6.6 million, or one in 
every 32 adults in the nation.

The federal statistics showed that one in every 107 American adults was 
behind bars.

State statistics, meanwhile, show that the ratio was much better in 
Massachusetts, where the total 2001 year-end population was 21,259 inmates, 
meaning that only one in every 228 state residents was in a jail or in prison.

Pessimism among state officials, though, has been fueled by recent reports, 
including a study of county jail populations scheduled to be released this 
week. The report shows that more than 16,000 people were sent to jail last 
year, a 5 percent increase over 2000 and the first increase in four years.

The rise was driven primarily by a 30 percent increase in the number of 
people sent to jail from courts in Suffolk County, Latini said.

Of those sent to jail, 24 percent were convicted of crimes against people 
(mostly assaults), 22 percent were convicted of property crimes, and 19 
percent were convicted on drug charges.

Motor vehicle crimes, including drunken driving charges, accounted for 
another 20 percent of those jailed. The remainder were sentenced for 
sex-related and other crimes.

Officials believe the increases have been driven mostly by the weak economy 
and an increase in the overall population of people between ages 19 and 29, 
the group correction officials say is statistically most likely to commit 
crime.

Latini said Massachusetts is one of 12 states where demographers are 
predicting a steady increase in the 19-to-29-year-old population - and a 
corresponding increase in crime - through the next decade.
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