BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
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Home | Corrections | Special populations | Federal Bureau of Prisons
Federal Bureau of Prisons
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BJS collects data on the characteristics and movements of the federal prison population through the National Prisoner Statistics, the Federal Justice Statistics Program, and the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Facilities. See Corrections Data Sources for more information. The federal prisoner population differs from prisoners held in jail or state correctional facilities most notably by offense, conviction status, length of stay, and offense distribution. 

Note that jurisdiction and custody numbers for federal prisoners now include counts for sentenced felons from the District of Columbia. After 2001, responsibility for sentenced felons from the District of Columbia was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

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Data Collections & Surveys

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Publications & Products


Federal Justice Statistics, 2010 Describes the annual activity, workloads, and outcomes associated with the federal criminal justice system from arrest to imprisonment, using data from the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA), Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC), and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
  PDF (4.3M) | ASCII file (67K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 183K)
Part of the Federal Justice Statistics Series

Correctional Populations in the United States, 2012 Summarizes data from various correctional collections to provide statistics on the number of offenders supervised by the adult correctional systems in the U.S. Adult correctional systems include offenders supervised in the community under the authority of probation or parole agencies and inmates held in state and federal prisons or local jails.
  Press Release | PDF (766K) | ASCII file (23K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 15K)
Part of the Correctional Populations in the United States Series

Correctional Populations in the United States, 2012 TOTAL U.S. CORRECTIONAL POPULATION DECLINED IN 2012 FOR FOURTH YEAR
  Press Release
Part of the Correctional Populations in the United States Series

Prisoners in 2007 Presents data on prisoners under jurisdiction of federal or state correctional authorities on December 31, 2007, collected from the National Prisoner Statistics series.
  Press Release | PDF (194K) | ASCII file (34K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 39K)
Part of the Prisoners Series

Number of sentenced prisoners in federal prison, by most serious offense, 2000, 2006, and 2007 Appendix Table 12 from Prisoners in 2007
  Download CSV file (Data Table 2 KB)

Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005 Presents selected findings from the Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005. The report includes data on characteristics of facilities by type, size, security level, rated and design capacities, court orders, and use of private contractors.
  PDF (302K) | ASCII file (32K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 22K)
Part of the Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities Series

Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children Presents data from the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities about inmates who were parents and their minor children.
  Press Release | PDF (175K) | ASCII file (38K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 22K)

Prison Inmates at Midyear 2007 Presents data on prisoners under jurisdiction of federal or state correctional authorities on June 30, 2007, collected from the National Prisoner Statistics series.
  Press Release | PDF (456K) | ASCII file (31K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 37K)
Part of the Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear Series

Medical Problems of Prisoners Presents findings on state and federal prisoners who reported a current medical problem, a physical or mental impairment, a dental problem, or an injury since admission based on data from the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities.
  Press Release | HTML | PDF (355K)

Sexual Victimization in State and Federal Prisons Reported by Inmates, 2007 Presents data from the National Inmate Survey, 2007, conducted in 146 State and Federal prisons between April and August 2007, with a sample of 23,398 inmates.
  Press Release | PDF (419K) | ASCII file (42K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 39K)

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Terms & Definitions

Federal prisons Prison facilities run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Prisoners housed in these facilities are under the legal authority of the federal government. This excludes private facilities under exclusive contract with BOP.
 
Imprisoned population The population of inmates confined in prison or other facilities under the jurisdiction of the state or Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
 
Institutional corrections Institutional corrections refers to those persons housed in secure correctional facilities. There are many different types of correctional facilities, operated by different government entities. Local jails are operated by county or municipal authorities, and typically hold offenders for short periods ranging from a single day to a year. Prisons serve as long-term confinement facilities and are only run by the 50 state governments and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Private correctional facilities also operate under contracts for a wide variety of local, state, and federal agencies. Other correctional facilities are operated by special jurisdictions, including the U.S. Armed Forces, U.S. territories, and federal agencies, such as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
 
Jurisdiction A unit of government or the legal authority to exercise governmental power. In corrections, it refers to the government that has legal authority over an inmate (state or federal). Prisoners under a given state's jurisdiction may be housed in another state or local correctional facility.
 
Operational capacity The number of inmates that can be accommodated based on a facility's staff, existing programs, and services.
 
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