BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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BJS collects data on both noncitizens held in state or federal prison or local jail, and on persons held by the U.S. Immigration of Customs and Enforcement (ICE). Note - there is an important difference between the terms noncitizens and inmates held by or for ICE. See Terms and Definitions for more information. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees - BJS obtains yearend prison counts of persons detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), formerly the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security. The Annual Survey of Jails also collects jail counts persons held for ICE. ICE inmates may be held for immigration violations in federal, state, and locally operated prisons and jails, privately-operated facilities under exclusive contract, and ICE-operated facilities.

Summary Findings

From Prisoners in 2007:

 

Appendix table 7. Estimated number of sentenced prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction, by gender, race, Hispanic origin, and age, December 31, 2007

  Malea Femalea
Age Totalb   Whitec   Blackc   Hispanic   Totalb   Whitec   Blackc   Hispanic
                               
Total 1,427,300   471,400   556,900   301,200   105,500   50,500   29,300   17,600
18-19 23,700   6,400   10,200   5,000   1,000   400   300   200
20-24 207,900   58,800   84,200   49,600   11,600   5,400   3,000   2,300
25-29 246,000   65,300   102,100   61,500   16,000   7,300   4,400   3,200
30-34 237,200   69,800   96,200   55,300   18,400   8,900   5,000   3,200
35-39 225,000   74,200   89,200   46,600   20,900   9,900   6,000   3,300
40-44 201,700   74,800   76,700   36,100   18,100   8,700   5,200   2,700
45-49 135,200   52,400   50,500   22,800   10,700   5,200   3,100   1,500
50-54 75,000   31,000   26,600   12,500   5,000   2,400   1,400   700
55-59 38,600   18,600   11,700   6,200   2,100   1,200   500   300
60-64 18,900   10,500   4,600   2,900   900   600   200   100
65 or older 15,500   9,000   3,600   2,200   600   400   100   100
                               
Note: Sentenced prisoner counts are based on estimates by gender, race, Hispanic origin, and age from the 2005 Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities and updated form jurisdiction counts by gender at yearend 2007. Federal sentenced prisoner counts are based on data from the BJS Federal Justice Statistics Program from September 30, 2007, and updated from jurisdiction counts at yearend 2007.
aSentenced prisoners are limited to those sentenced to more than 1 year.
bTotal includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.
cExcludes Hispanics and persons identifying two or more races.

 

Appendix table 18. Number of detainees held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), by facility type, December 31, 2006 and 2007

Facility type   2006   2007   Percent change,
2006-2007
               
Total   27,368   30,431   11 %
  Intergovernmental Service Agreement
    and Bureau of Prisons
  17,753   20,711   16.7  
  ICE owned and contract   9,615   9,720   1.1  
 
Note: Not comparable with numbers reported prior to 2006. The classification of categories have changed.

 

Appendix table 19. Number of detainees in custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities, by offense type, December 31, 2007
                 
      Change, 2006-2007  
 
Reason held     2006    2007 Number of
detainees
  Percent change  
 
Total   27,368 30,431 3,063   11.2 %  
  Immigration law violation 13,427 13,580    153   1.1    
  Criminal offense 11,687 12,889 1,202   10.3    
  Pending charge/disposition 2,254 3,962 1,708   75.8    

 

From Jail Inmates at Midyear 2008 - Statistical Tables--

Table 9. Inmate population in jail jurisdictions reporting on confined persons being held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, midyear 2002-2008

          Confined persons held for ICE
Year   Number of
reporting
jurisdictions
  Total number
of inmates
  Number Percent
2002   2,961   626,870   12,501   2.0%
2003   2,940   637,631   13,337 2.1
2004a   2,962   673,807   14,120 2.1
2005   2,824   703,084   11,919 1.7
2006b   2,784   698,108   13,598 1.9
2007c   2,713   683,640   15,063 2.2
2008   2,699   704,278   20,785 3.0
aBased on revised data for 2004.
bBased on revised data from selected jail jurisdictions for 2006. See Methodology for a description of revised data.
cBased on revised data from selected jail jurisdictions for 2007. See Methodology for a description of revised data.
 
 

 

Confined non-U.S. citizens in local jails:
BJS obtains annual jail counts of non-U.S. citizens through the Annual Survey of Jails. The following table is from Jail Inmates at Midyear 2008 - Statistical Tables:

Table 8. Inmate population in jail jurisdictions reporting on the number of confined non-U.S. citizens, midyear 2000-2008
Non-U.S. citizens
Year Number of  
reporting     
jurisdictions 
Total number
of inmates      
Number Percent
2000 2,775 455,590 27,680    6.1%
2001 2,693 444,430 27,147 6.1
2002 2,747 453,641 32,067 7.1
2003 2,718 511,957 33,392 6.5
2004 2,737 536,862 35,984 6.7
2005 2,513 516,199 30,082 5.8
2006a 2,393 477,323 33,428 7.0
2007b 2,416 504,370 38,842 7.7
2008 2,363 533,249 47,934 9.0
aBased on revised data from selected jail jurisdictions for 2006. See Methodology for a description of revised data.
bBased on revised data from selected jail jurisdictions for 2007. See Methodology for a description of revised data.

 

Confined non-U.S. citizens in state or federal prison:
BJS obtains annual prison counts of non-U.S. citizens through the National Prisoner Statistics. The following table is from Prison Inmates at Midyear 2008 - Statistical Tables --

Table 20. Reported number of non-U.S. citizens held in state or federal prisons, by gender, region, and jurisdiction, June 30, 2007-2008

    2007 2008
             
Region and jurisdiction Total Male Female Total Male Female
             
U.S. Total 87,235 83,666 3,569 94,724 88,061 3,888
  Federal 31,469 29,348 2,121 28,995 26,908 2,087
  State 55,766 54,318 1,448 65,729 61,153 1,801
Northeast 9,055 8,726 329 9,036 8,751 285
  Connecticuta 788 734 54 742 710 32
  Maine 15 14 1 16 16 0
  Massachusetts 958 917 41 914 874 40
  New Hampshire 52 49 3 / / /
  New Jersey / / / / / /
  New Yorkb 6,716 6,496 220 6,334 6,148 186
  Pennsylvania 507 500 7 1,008 985 23
  Rhode Islanda / / / / / /
  Vermonta 19 16 3 22 18 4
Midwest 3,238 3,175 103 3,243 3,131 112
  Illinois / / / / / /
  Indiana 450 439 11 468 454 14
  Iowa 200 195 5 186 183 3
  Kansas 281 276 5 283 278 5
  Michigan 621 614 7 615 608 7
  Minnesota 284 275 9 311 302 9
  Missourib 447 423 24 440 411 29
  Nebraska 175 174 1 187 184 3
  North Dakota 16 15 1 12 11 1
  Ohio 699 660 39 685 644 41
  South Dakota 65 64 1 56 56 0
  Wisconsin / / / / / /
South 16,169 15,717 452 23,240 22,582 658
  Alabama 108 105 3 117 113 4
  Arkansas 174 168 6 174 168 6
  Delawarea 307 295 12 360 342 18
  Florida / / / 6,101 5,885 216
  Georgia 1,906 1,849 57 1,766 1,738 28
  Kentucky 44 43 1 83 80 3
  Louisiana 107 100 7 106 103 3
  Marylandb 570 549 21 686 663 23
  Mississippi / / / / / /
  North Carolina 1,461 1,430 31 1,687 1,641 46
  Oklahomac 339 326 13 363 348 15
  South Carolina 309 303 6 376 371 5
  Tennesseeb 233 227 6 250 243 7
  Texas 9,422 9,185 237 9,940 9,700 240
  Virginia 1,187 1,135 52 1,223 1,179 44
  West Virginia 2 2 0 8 8 0
West 27,304 26,740 564 30,210 26,689 746
  Alaskaa 14 14 0 14 13 1
  Arizona 4,874 4,797 77 5,605 5,497 108
  Californiad 18,447 18,060 387 17,010 16,575 435
  Coloradob 1,123 1,093 30 1,112 1,082 30
  Hawaiia 99 94 5 99 92 7
  Idaho 292 282 10 324 312 12
  Montana 5 5 0 13 13 0
  Nevadae 1,053 1,029 24 2,775 / /
  New Mexico 156 156 0 120 120 0
  Oregon / / / 1,746 1,643 103
  Utah 232 229 3 263 260 3
  Washington 945 918 27 1,075 1,029 46
  Wyoming 64 63 1 54 53 1
             
/Not reported.            
aPrisons and jails form one integrated system. Data include total jail and prison populations.
bNon-U.S. citizen defined as foreign-born.        
cNon-U.S. citizen defined as inmates held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or categorized as being of alien status.
dNon-U.S. citizen defined as inmates held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
eNevada was unable to provide gender breakouts for 2008.    

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Terms & Definitions

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees ICE holds persons for immigration violations in federal, state, and locally operated prisons and jails, as well as in privately-operated facilities under exclusive contract and ICE-operated facilities. Persons serving time in a local jail or in state or federal prison for either a criminal or immigration offense may be turned over to ICE after completing their sentence.