In December 2006, there were 1.57 million people in federal or state prisons.
• Gender: Of the 1.57 million prisoners, 1.46 million were male, and 112,000 were female. Females made up 7 percent of the prison population. The ratio of male to female prisoners was roughly 13 to 1.
The prison incarceration rate of women was 1 in every 1,493 women, whereas the prison incarceration rate for men was 1 out of every 106.
• Juvenile: 2,364 of the prisoners—less than 0.2 percent of the prison population—were juveniles (under 18). Between 2005 and 2006, the juvenile prison population increased 7 percent, the first increase in more than 11 years. Overall, however, the juvenile prison population has been on a decline: since 1995, the juvenile prison population has declined more than 58 percent.
• Race and Ethnicity At the end of 2006, the prison population was 42 percent black, 40 percent white, and 16 percent Hispanic.
Although there were more black males than white or Hispanic males in prison, there were more white females than black or Hispanics females in prison. White females made up 48 percent of the prison population.
• Nativity: The 91,426 noncitizen prisoners constituted 6 percent of the prison population. The proportion of noncitizen prisoners has not changed much over the past few years.
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