New Britain herald., 1922-11-24
NUMBER OF PERSONS HELD IN PRISONS.
Govt. Compares Figures for 1917 With Those Of 1922

i. the department of commerce has now given a deAailed report on the num- Der of prisoners confined in Federal penitcntiaries, state prisons and other penal institutions on July 1, 1922, was 163,Sss of which number 6,b40 were reported for three federal peni- tentiaries, .7S,673 for 104 state pris- ons. 44,2SS for 2.451 county penal ipstitutions lprincipally jails). 12,7i7 for 2e6 chain or road gangs in cer- tain southern states, and 21,6s6 for ,319 city institutions. while the re- maining f,04t were women committed by the courts to the care of other institutions CA in number), mainly finder the control of religious or charitable orga nizations. Similar data were collected for July 1, 1917. but the total for that date does not in- clude all prisoners In chain or road gangs, nor women com mitted by the courts to the care of institutions un- der the 'contro, of religious or char itable organiza tions. Excluding these . from the figures for 1922, the com psrable totals for the two years are: 1922, 15l,17a: 1917, 14o.1ss.
 These figures include prisoners awaiting trial and few persons held as witnesses. as we'll as prisoners serving sentence. The returns were obtained in response to a circular of inquiry which the bureau of census {. mailed to the various institutions, as a preliminary to the complete decen- nial census of prisoners, which will be taken in 1928.
 Increases Reported. i{ The number of prisoners in Federal penitentiaries increased from 3,01S on July 1, 1917, to 5.b40 on July 1. 1922. During the same period the number Of inmates of state prisons increased from HAP to 78,673, and of county jails, from 41,s71 to 44,2s3. while persons confined in city penal insti- tutions dncluding police stations, de- creased in number from 23,So5 to 2l,- < 6;5 ,Gls& 4
 The data as to- prisoners in Federal and state penal institutions are pre- sumably complete and accurate for z both 1922 and 1917. The combined ! total of persons in such institutions increased from 74,460 in 1917, to s4,- 213 in 1922, the rate of increase be- ing 13.1 per cent. The rate of in crease in Federal prisoners was SS.o per cent; in state prisoners, lWl per cent. The ratio Of Federal prisoners per 10o,0 population increased from three in 1917 to 51 in 1922, and the corresponding ratio for state prison CTS increased during! the same period from 72.4 to 74.5.
 { No state prison is maintained Tn Delaware, and for Georgia the state < figures, which include prisoners Tn ( chain or road gangs, are not compar- able with those for other states. Ot [ thearemaining 46 states, 2S show in- X creases in the ratio of state prisoners per 100000 population and 2S snow ' decreases. Of the 23 states in whicn < the ration increased, 19 show rela- { lively low ratios for 1917, the average ! for the entire group of 23 states be- ing 6s.e per I 10o,00o; while of the 23 states in which the ratio decreased, lS Ss show relatively high ratios for 1917, < the average for the entire group be- { ing s2.4 per 100000. In other words i. the ratio decreased in most Of the states in which 1t was relatively hign i, in 1917 and increased in most of the states in which it was relatively low Z in that year. For example: Pennsyl- { yania's low ratio of 41.6 in 1917 in creased to 56.2 in 1922, while lndl- aana's high ratio of 11S in 1917 de- x clined to 101.1 in 1922. The increases somewhat more than counterbalanced the decreases, however, and thereby raised the ratio for the United States from TIA in 1917 to 745 in 1922.
 Uniform Tendency.
 The tendency toward uniformity is further brought out by comparing the highest and lowest state ratios for each of the two years covered by the inquiry. In 1917 the highest 3 ratios were: Nevada, 2ss.s; Florida, 177.s; Wyoming, 1854. For 1922, however the highest 3 ratios were perceptibls lower, namely: Nevada, ,20o.2; Wyom. ing, 165.3;. Florida, 1893. For 191' 5 the lowest ratios were: South Caro- ina, 1912; Maine, 29.4; Nebraska 2s.s. The lowest ratios for 1922 are noticeably higher, namely: South Car olina, as.5; New Hampshire, 32.9 North Dakota, 34.7.
 The returns for counties and cities arc not strictly comparable for tht two years, for the reason that in eacf case a larger number of institutions l: covered for 1922 than for 1917. Int county returns covered S,021 institu tions (principally jails) for 1922, a. q Ca yuh a city returns relate to 2,70s institutions (principally police stations) for ls22 as against only 2,351 for 1917. Onl. part of the prisoners in county ant city institutions are actually serving sentence, the remainder being held II confinement awaiting trial or, in ; few cases, held as witnesses.
 The only fair comparison betweeI the county and city figures for th' two years is that made with averages
 based on the total numbers of fnsti
 tutions for which reports were re
 ceiyed (fncluding those reporting n' prisoners). For county institution
 the average number of prisoners de
 creased from 1s.2 in 1917 to 147 Il
 1922, and for city institutions 1t rel
 from 1o.1 in the earlier year to II the later. The number of empt,
 county jails and other county insti
 unions decreased from 6s3, or 24.
 per cent of the total for which re
 norts were received, in 1917 to 570, o
 1g.s per cent of thetotal in 1922. OI
 the other hand, the number of city in
 stitutions reporting no prisoners Tn
 creased from 1,1ss, or 4s.7 per cen
 of the total in 1917 to 1880, or b!.
 ner cent of the total. in 1922.