So much for prison reform: More than 40 percent of prison inmates had 5-10 prior incarcerations

Posted by: Leonard Sipes January 7, 2022 Categories Featured, News, Politics and Policing

•  Seventy-eight percent of inmates had previous incarcerations.
• Forty-two percent had 5-10 or more incarcerations.
• The vast majority of prison inmates have multiple previous arrests and incarcerations. The vast majority have histories of violence.

The data below from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is from 2016. It was released in December 2021. It establishes the characteristics of prison inmates. Readers are encouraged to view the full report; I added the most relevant numbers. I offer two sections of background data before I summarize the report.......

The most common understanding of recidivism is based on state data from the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, stating that two-thirds (68 percent) of prisoners released were arrested for a new crime within three years of release from prison, and three-quarters (77 percent) were arrested within five years.

Within 3 years of release, 49.7% of inmates either had an arrest that resulted in a conviction with a disposition of a prison sentence or were returned to prison without a new conviction because they violated a technical condition of their release, as did 55.1% of inmates within 5 years of release.

A ten-year study from the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that 82% were arrested at least once during the 10 years following release. Offenders committed well over two million new crimes. About 61% of prisoners released in 2008 returned to prison within 10 years for a parole or probation violation or a new sentence, Inmate Recidivism..........The overwhelming number of inmates are not first-time offenders.

• Over 40 percent of inmates had five to ten prior incarcerations which substantiates prior findings that a minority of offenders commit the majority of crimes.
• The vast majority had multiple arrests, approximately 13 percent were in prison for their first arrest.
• 37 percent were on parole or probation at the time of their crime.
• Males make up the great majority of inmates.
• Most in state prisons were convicted of violent crimes.
• The average age of state prisoners was 39.
• State prisoners were likely to be black (34%) or white (32%).
• Most didn’t graduate from high school.
• Most were not married.
• Most serve less than two years. Editor’s note: Recent data from BJS indicate that most violent offenders serve less than three years.
• 94 percent had homes at the time of the arrest.
• Most came from single-parent homes.
• Thirty percent of state and federal prisoners reported that they had 5 or more incarcerations prior to the offense for which they were being held, including 12% who had 10 or more prior incarcerations.
• Less than a quarter of prisoners reported no history of prior incarcerations (22%).

Among state and federal prisoners, males were more likely than females to have extensive incarceration histories prior to the offense for which they were held. About 31% of male prisoners reported 5 to 9 (19%) or 10 or more (12%) prior incarcerations. In comparison, 24% of female prisoners reported 5 to 9 (14%) or 10 or more (10%) prior incarcerations.........To Read More.....