Article: Prison Population Up 7.3% In Six Months, a Record

The nation's prison population jumped by a record 46,004 inmates in the first six months of 1989 for a total of 673,565 men and women behind bars, the Bureau of Justice Statistics said yesterday.

The six-month leap broke the record not only for half-year increases but also was higher than any annual increase recorded during the 64 years that the government has counted prisoners, the bureau said.

The largest annual increase ever recorded was in 1981-82, when the national prison population grew by 41,060 inmates, from 344,283 to 385,343, Tom Hester of the bureau said.

The 7.3 percent surge in ...

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