Private Prisons in the United States
Thirty-one states and the federal government incarcerated 100,151 people in private prisons in 2020, representing 8% of the total state and federal prison population. Since 2000, the number of people housed in private facilities has increased 15%, according to data collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and The Sentencing Project and presented in our new fact sheet.
States show significant variation in their use of private prisons. Indeed, Montana held half of its prison population in private facilities, while 19 states did not employ any for-profit prisons.
Since 2000, the Federal Bureau of Prisons' reliance on private facilities increased by 79%, and the number of people in federal custody in its private facilities (inclusive of prisons, halfway houses, and systems of home confinement) totaled 27,810 people in 2020.
Among the immigrant detention population, 38,724 people – 81% of the detained population – were confined in privately run facilities in 2020.
The public debate about the causes and consequences of mass incarceration often evokes the impact of prison privatization. While the conditions in these facilities and accusations that the industry perpetuates more incarceration are well documented, the number of people in these prisons is dwarfed by the overall prison population and the harm caused by imprisonment generally.
Click here to read the report.
