|
|
Article: Prison population up with long stays: Study finds violent offenders comprise bulk of increase
- Article from:
- Charleston Daily Mail
- Article date:
- August 3, 1998
CopyrightCopyright 1998 Charleston Daily Mail. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
WASHINGTON - The nation's inmates are serving more time behind
bars, particularly for violent crimes, a fact that helped push the
U.S. prison population above 1.2 million in 1997, Justice Department
officials say.
The longer sentences, coupled with a fairly constant stream of
admissions, produced the slow but steady 5.2 percent growth over the
decade to 1,244,554 prison inmates last year, the department's Bureau
of Justice Statistics reported Sunday. More than a half-million
others were serving shorter sentences or awaiting trial in jails.
With stable admissions, "the prison population growth in the 1990s
has been primarily driven by the increasing lengths of stay - fewer
inmates leaving," ...