Racial incarceration disparities remain visible across prisons, local jails, and the broader correctional system. On December 31, 2023, the overall U.S. adult imprisonment rate was 460 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 adult residents. The rate for Black adults was 1,218 per 100,000, compared with 231 for white adults.
This article distinguishes imprisonment from jail custody, incarceration from community supervision, and year-end measures from midyear measures. Prison figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) cover sentenced prisoners with sentences longer than one year at yearend. Jail rates are measured at midyear, while counts in the long-term correctional series are rounded estimates. BJS also notes reporting-method and probation-coverage changes in the 2023 correctional-supervision series.
Contents
- National imprisonment rates
- Age-specific differences
- Who is represented in state and federal prisons
- Local jails and pretrial custody
- The full correctional system
- Trends from 2013 to 2023
National imprisonment rates
The national prison rate shows a large gap between racial and ethnic groups. In the BJS year-end 2023 measure, Black adults had an imprisonment rate of 1,218 per 100,000. That was about five times the white-adult rate of 231 per 100,000. Hispanic adults had a rate of 606 per 100,000, while American Indian or Alaska Native adults had a rate of 1,045 per 100,000.
Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islander adults had the lowest reported rate among the listed groups, at 88 per 100,000. The Black adult rate was about twice the Hispanic adult rate, 1,218 compared with 606 per 100,000, and about 14 times the Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islander adult rate.
| Group | Adult imprisonment rate, Dec. 31, 2023 (per 100,000) |
|---|---|
| Black | 1,218 |
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 1,045 |
| Hispanic | 606 |
| White | 231 |
| Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islander | 88 |
| Overall adult population | 460 |
Source: BJS, Prisoners in 2023 – Statistical Tables. The rates concern sentenced prisoners with sentences longer than one year at yearend, and race categories follow the report’s definitions.
The 2023 figures describe disparity in rates, not simply the number of people held in prison. A rate places the count in relation to the adult population of each group, making comparisons across groups more meaningful than comparing raw totals alone. The overall rate of 460 per 100,000 is also not an average of the listed group rates; it describes the overall adult population covered by the BJS measure.
Age-specific differences
The national gap is especially pronounced among young men. On December 31, 2023, Black males ages 18 to 19 had an imprisonment rate of 352 per 100,000. The corresponding rate was 30 per 100,000 for white males, 84 for Hispanic males, 191 for American Indian or Alaska Native males, and 16 for Asian males.
Among 18-to-19-year-olds, the Black male imprisonment rate was 12 times the white male rate and 22 times the Asian male rate. These comparisons use the same age range, sex category, measurement date, and prison-rate definition, so they show how disparity can vary by age rather than treating all adults as one group.
| Group of males ages 18–19 | Imprisonment rate, Dec. 31, 2023 (per 100,000) |
|---|---|
| Black | 352 |
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 191 |
| Hispanic | 84 |
| White | 30 |
| Asian | 16 |
For Black males ages 20 to 24, the imprisonment rate was 1,982 per 100,000 at the same reported measurement date. That age-specific figure is not interchangeable with the Black adult rate of 1,218 per 100,000 because the populations and age ranges differ.
Source: BJS, Prisoners in 2023 – Statistical Tables. The age-specific comparisons are reported rates, not projections.
Who is represented in state and federal prisons
Race and ethnicity also look different when measured as the composition of prison populations rather than as rates within each group. Under state correctional authority at yearend 2023, Black people made up 33% of sentenced prisoners, white people made up 32%, and Hispanic people made up 22%. American Indian or Alaska Native people made up 2%, while Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islander people made up about 1%.
Federal sentenced-prisoner composition differed from the state-authority distribution. Hispanic people made up 34% of the sentenced population under federal correctional authority, Black people made up 32%, and white people made up 24%.
| Correctional authority | Black | White | Hispanic | Other reported groups |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State sentenced prisoners | 33% | 32% | 22% | AI/AN 2%; Asian, NH/PI about 1% |
| Federal sentenced prisoners | 32% | 24% | 34% | Not specified in the supplied comparison |
These percentages should not be read as imprisonment rates. Composition tells us what share of a correctional population each group represents. A rate instead describes how common imprisonment is within a group’s relevant population. The two measures answer different questions and can show different patterns.
Source: BJS, Prisoners in 2023 – Statistical Tables. Percentages refer to sentenced prisoners under state or federal correctional authority at December 31, 2023.
Local jails and pretrial custody
Local jails add another part of the incarceration picture. At midyear 2023, local jails held 664,200 people. White people represented approximately 47% of the local jail population, Black people approximately 36%, Hispanic people approximately 14%, and other racial and ethnic groups together approximately 3%.
The jail incarceration rates show a different comparison from the population shares. The Black jail incarceration rate was 552 per 100,000 Black U.S. residents, compared with 155 per 100,000 white U.S. residents. The American Indian or Alaska Native jail incarceration rate was 425 per 100,000 residents in that group.
The jail total is a custody count measured at midyear, while the rates place custody in relation to group populations. The prison rates above are year-end measures for sentenced prisoners with sentences longer than one year. Because the facilities, dates, and populations differ, a jail rate should not be added to a prison rate as though they were identical measures.
Source: BJS, Jail Inmates in 2023 - Statistical Tables Full Report. BJS measures jail rates at midyear, and the race categories and Hispanic-origin treatment follow the report.
The full correctional system
The broader correctional system includes incarceration and community supervision. At yearend 2023, about 5,530,300 people were under adult correctional-authority supervision. About 1,852,900 were incarcerated in state or federal prisons or local jails, while about 3,772,000 were under community supervision.
The year-end 2023 counts by race were 2,528,000 white people, 1,767,000 Black people, 966,000 Hispanic people, and 269,000 people in all other racial groups under correctional supervision. These are counts, not group-specific rates, and they are rounded estimates.
The rate comparison makes the disparity clearer. The adult correctional-supervision rate was 5,460 per 100,000 Black adults, or about 1 in 18. For white adults, it was 1,580 per 100,000, or about 1 in 63. The two rates cover correctional supervision, not prison custody alone.
Source: BJS, Correctional Populations in the United States, 2023 – Statistical Tables. The 2023 series includes reporting-method and probation-coverage changes noted by BJS.
Trends from 2013 to 2023
The reported rates declined for several groups between 2013 and 2023, but the lower 2023 levels did not eliminate the differences between groups. The Black adult correctional-supervision rate fell from 7,700 to 5,460 per 100,000. The white adult rate fell from 2,030 to 1,580, and the Hispanic adult rate fell from 3,000 to 2,070.
| Measure | 2013 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Black adult correctional-supervision rate | 7,700 | 5,460 per 100,000 |
| White adult correctional-supervision rate | 2,030 | 1,580 per 100,000 |
| Hispanic adult correctional-supervision rate | 3,000 | 2,070 per 100,000 |
| Black adult incarceration rate | 5,100 | 3,610 per 100,000 |
| White adult incarceration rate | 1,540 | 1,190 per 100,000 |
| Hispanic adult incarceration rate | 1,820 | 1,310 per 100,000 |
The adult incarceration rate fell from 5,100 to 3,610 per 100,000 for Black adults, from 1,540 to 1,190 for white adults, and from 1,820 to 1,310 for Hispanic adults. At yearend 2023, the Hispanic adult incarceration rate was 1,310 per 100,000, compared with 3,610 per 100,000 for Black adults.
Prison population estimates also declined. The Black prison population count fell from 550,000 in 2013 to 409,000 in 2023. The white prison population count fell from 487,000 to 384,000. BJS reports these population counts as estimates rounded to the nearest 1,000.
The 2013–2023 comparisons are historical series reported by BJS. They should not be treated as independently re-created calculations, and changes in reporting methods or probation coverage matter when interpreting the correctional-supervision series. The prison and jail measures also retain their separate definitions: prison rates concern sentenced prisoners with sentences longer than one year at yearend, while jail rates are measured at midyear.
Source: BJS, Correctional Populations in the United States, 2023 – Statistical Tables. Rates, counts, and the series limitations are reported by BJS.