The prison population bomb

American Demographics, Feb, 1996 by Paula Mergenhagen, Rachel Dickenson

A growing proportion of convicted criminals are children. Nearly 600,000 juveniles were under some type of correctional supervision in 1991, according to the BJS. Eighty-three percent of these were on parole or probation, and 17 percent--more than 100,000 kids--were in prisons, juvenile detention facilities, or jails.

"There was not a drastic increase in overall crime between 1985 and 1995, but there was a tremendous increase in violent juvenile crime," says Betty Adams, director of juvenile justice for Children's Comprehensive Services in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Her company contracts with governments around the country to manage juvenile detention facilities and provide services to youthful offenders living in the community. Private management of juvenile justice facilities is growing rapidly, says Charles Thomas.

Prisoners are a youthful group, because the vast majority of serious crimes are committed by young men. But longer sentences mean that the prison population is aging. "It's a middle-aged bulge, rather than an increasing proportion of elderly prisoners," says Allen Beck of the BJS. The proportion of state prisoners under age 35 has decreased from 73 percent in 1986 to 68 percent in 1991. Meanwhile, prisoners aged 35 to 54 increased from 25 percent to 29 percent. The proportion aged 55 and older remained the same, at about 3 percent.

Longer sentences will bring a long-term increase in elderly prisoners. Mandatory life without parole laws will create more inmates like Howard Christensen, who was sentenced to prison in 1937 and is still serving time for murder and robbery. South Dakota State Penitentiary officials wanted to put Christensen in a conventional nursing home, but they were afraid he wouldn't be welcomed. "I think states will be [setting up] geriatric units in prisons very soon," says Patrick Cannan of Wackenhut Correctional Corporation. "It will keep the cost down if they centralize inmates with special needs."

Prison officials are also dealing with issues caused by increasing shares of prisoners who are minorities and women. In 1993, 51 percent of inmates were black, up from 47 percent in 1980. Hispanics were 14 percent of inmates in state and federal prisons, up from 8 percent in 1980.

Minorities are a majority in many prisons, and their presence has changed many areas of prison life. Mexican food is served at least twice a week at the Tarrant County Community Correctional Facility in Mansfield, Texas, says Tom Hostetter, kitchen manager. "Everybody likes burritos. But we try not to spice our food too hot, so everyone can tolerate it."

Women are only 6 percent of all prisoners, but that share has grown from 4 percent in 1980. Female inmates are similar to male inmates in race and ethnicity, and their age distribution is also comparable. But only one-third of women in state prisons are serving time for violent offenses, compared with nearly half of men, according to a 1991 survey by the BJS. This is one reason why the median maximum sentence is five years for women in state prisons, compared with ten years for men.