Prisons are institutions housing convicts sentenced to longer terms and are usually run by states.
Jails house accused persons, as well as convicts sentenced to shorter sentences, and are usually run by counties or large cities. The number of state criminal convictions in 1994 is a decline from the 893,600 total in 1992, but was higher than the total of 667,400 in 1988, when BJS first conducted the survey. The average sentence to a local jail was six months and the average term of probation was a little more than three years. Half the convicted state felons were 29 years old or older.