In 1926 the Federal Government, in a statistical series called “National Prisoner Statistics,” began keeping annual records of State and Federal prison populations. The series has been in continuous operation ever
since. Published reports from the series are the source of national statistical information on prison populations in the United States.
Among the several continuously published measures of the prison population, one from the annual report is intended to provide a measure of the overall size of the prison population. This measure is the number of prisoners present in State and Federal prisons at the end of each year. Changes from one year to the next in the number of prisoners present at yearend reveal whether prison populations are Increasing, decreasing, or staying the same in the United States.
This report combines yearend population counts from the annual published reports into a single table (table 1). Table 1 shows the prison population of each State, the District of Columbia, and the Federal Government on December 31 of each year from 1925 to 1986.
Over the more than 60 years in which prisoner counts have been reported, definitions of included populations have occasionally changed, and published figures have been revised (see Methodology). Annual counts reported here are based on final revised figures and represent the most comparable data published
Table 1. Sentenced prisoners in State and Federal institutions on December 31, 1925-86 [excerpt]
What I meant was that the total number of people in prison/jails anywhere in US, charged sentenced or otherwise could easily have been 5.5 million. I have no idea where the meme op posted got its statistic, but the dbzero person in this thread is fixated on only the people that were sentenced that year, not people that were actually imprisoned during that year regardless of date of sentencing.
I think we are talking past each other. The total number of prisoners is a very different number than the number of people just sentenced in that year. That is all I was trying to distinguish. The total number of people in prison that year does not include the additional number of people held in county jails etc. in that year if it only tabulates those in actual prison. So the ~1.1m is still going to be lower than the number of people at any time imprisoned. It really doesn’t matter much anyway that person is a reactionary asshole and I am peacing out of this thread.
I think what made it difficult to understand is that “sentenced” also means someone getting sent to jail, so I assumed you were talking about people getting sent to jail (unless you were?)
Sent to jail doesn’t necessarily mean sentenced, it doesn’t even mean charged or had a trial. Prison is where you go after trial, jail is where you go after an arrest. Lots of people get locked up even for long stretches without even being formally charged. Anyone placed in jail or prison is a prisoner and incarcerated. Imprisoned doesn’t necessarily mean tried or sentenced, just jailed. One can be arrested and imprisoned without ever being charged with anything. It’s actually super common in the US.
Table 1. Sentenced prisoners in State and Federal institutions on December 31, 1925-86 [excerpt]
oops friendly fire
What I meant was that the total number of people in prison/jails anywhere in US, charged sentenced or otherwise could easily have been 5.5 million. I have no idea where the meme op posted got its statistic, but the dbzero person in this thread is fixated on only the people that were sentenced that year, not people that were actually imprisoned during that year regardless of date of sentencing.
My quoting is from the dbzero persons PDF
I think we are talking past each other. The total number of prisoners is a very different number than the number of people just sentenced in that year. That is all I was trying to distinguish. The total number of people in prison that year does not include the additional number of people held in county jails etc. in that year if it only tabulates those in actual prison. So the ~1.1m is still going to be lower than the number of people at any time imprisoned. It really doesn’t matter much anyway that person is a reactionary asshole and I am peacing out of this thread.
I think what made it difficult to understand is that “sentenced” also means someone getting sent to jail, so I assumed you were talking about people getting sent to jail (unless you were?)
Sent to jail doesn’t necessarily mean sentenced, it doesn’t even mean charged or had a trial. Prison is where you go after trial, jail is where you go after an arrest. Lots of people get locked up even for long stretches without even being formally charged. Anyone placed in jail or prison is a prisoner and incarcerated. Imprisoned doesn’t necessarily mean tried or sentenced, just jailed. One can be arrested and imprisoned without ever being charged with anything. It’s actually super common in the US.