Criminal Justice Ministries

Sala W. J. Nolan
Minister for Criminal Justice and Human Rights Program Team Based in Cleveland, Ohio
Justice And Witness Ministries

More than 2.2 million people are currently incarcerated in the United States today, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics.  About 1.5 million are in federal or state facilities for adults.  The remainder are in local jails, juvenile facilities, military prisons, jails on Indian reservations, or immigration facilities. This is not the full picture, however.  More than 5 million additional persons are under Justice supervision, either on probation or on parole.  The number of people currently active within the system is over 7 million. 

Learn more about criminal justice: Who are the People in Prison? What are a prisoner's Rights? Justice inside the walls of American Prisons Detainees in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere Who are the Victims of Crime? Race, Ethnicity and the justice system Juvenile Justice What is the effect of prison on Families? Harsh Punishments, from execution to mandatory minimums The relationship between Crimes and Punishments The Prison Industrial Complex Prisoner Re-Entry Criminal Justice Resources What Can I Do?

The United States imprisons more of its own people than any other country in the world.  For every 100,000 U.S. residents, more than 700 are in prison.  In contrast, the incarceration rate per 100,000 residents in the U.K. is 125; in Canada, 110; and in the Netherlands, France and Italy it is 90.  In Japan, the incarceration rate is 40 per 100,000.  Of all the prisoners in the world, one out of every four is incarcerated in the United States.       
The number of U.S. prisoners continues to grow.  The prison population has more than quadrupled since 1980, and has risen sharply for women and youth.  Greatest increases are in the South and West regions, but the general trend is consistent across all states. Approximately 1 in every 100 men and 1 in every 1,700 women in America resides in a federal or state facility.  If this trend persists, we can expect that one in every 20 of America's children will serve time in a state or federal prison.