But just a bit, according to Heather C. West at the Bureau of Justice Statistics. At the end of 2009, state and federal correctional authorities had jurisdiction over 1,613,656 prisoners, an increase of 0.2% (3,897 prisoners) from 2008.
Black men are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white men.
Non-citizens (not all of whom are illegal) make up 4.1% of the prison population.
[And congrats to Jim Lynch, my colleague at John Jay College, who just got confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. He’s a good man and up to the job.]