BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
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In 1995 BJS began collecting yearend counts of inmates from the departments of corrections in the U.S. Territories (American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and U.S. Commonwealths (Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico). These counts include all inmates for whom the territory or commonwealth had legal authority (jurisdiction) and all inmates in physical custody (held in prison or local jail facilities). The counts are collected by gender, race, Hispanic origin, and sentence length. In addition, BJS obtains reports on the design, rated, and operational capacities of these correctional facilities.

Summary Findings

From Prisoners in 2007:

Appendix table 16. Prisoners in custody of correctional authorities in the U.S. Territories and Commonwealths, December 31, 2006 and 2007
      Sentenced to more than 1 year
                       
Jurisdiction Total   2006 2007   Percent
change,
2006-2007		   2006 2007   Percent
change,
2006-2007
                         
Total  15,205    14,678  -3.5%    11,743    11,465 -2.4    261
  American Samoa  210    236  12.4    113    122  8    188
  Guam  495    535  8.1    337    320  -5    182
  Commonwealth of the
 Northern Mariana Islands		  126    137  8.7    76    78  2.6    90
  Commonwealth of
  Puerto Rico		  13,788    13,215  -4.2    10,789    10,553  -2.2    267
  U.S. Virgin Islands  586    555  -5.3    428    392  -8.4    357
 
*The number of prisoners with a sentence of more than 1 year per 100,000 persons in the resident population. July 1, 2007, population estimates were provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base.

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