Source:   Houston Chronicle
Contact:    Mon, 19 Jan 1998
Website:  http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle
Author:  Cassandra Burrell, AP

PRISON, JAIL POPULATIONS UP 6% IN '97

WASHINGTON -- The nation's prison and jail population increased nearly 6
percent last year, from an estimated 1.6 million to more than 1.7 million
by June 30, the Justice Department said Sunday.

That puts one in every 155 U.S. residents in jail as of midyear 1997,
according to a new report by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.

However, the jump was slightly smaller than those recorded in earlier
years. From 1990 to 1997, the number increased an average of 6.5 percent
annually. The number of prisoners behind bars in state and federal
institutions grew in 1997 by 55,198, or 4.7 percent. That was also less
than the annual average increase, which has stood 7.7 percent since 1990.

Despite smaller than usual increases at the state and federal levels,
figures for prisoners in local jails rose by more than the average.

From July 1 to June 30, inmates in local jails grew by 48,587, or 9.4
percent, "considerably more than the 4.9 percent average annual growth
since 1990," the bureau said.

The Sentencing Project, a private group that advocates less imprisonment
and more use of creative alternatives, noted that the total U.S. prison
population has risen, even though crime rates have declined since 1992.

During the last 25 years, the federal and state inmate population has
increased sixfold from 200,000 in 1972.

The growth in inmates may account for declining crime rates. But the
Sentencing Project noted "any relationship can be vastly overstated" and
cited contradictory figures.

For example, crime increased between 1984 and 1991 while the prison
population increased 77 percent. From 1970 to 1995, crime rates twice
increased and twice decreased even though incarceration steadily rose.

Other details of the report:

* Hawaii recorded the biggest prisoner increase, with 21.6 percent.

* The only declines were in Massachusetts, down .7 percent; Virginia, down
.5 percent; and District of Columbia, down .2 percent.