Mapped: U.S. States by Cost Per Prisoner

Visual Capitalist

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41 seconds ago

on

June 9, 2024

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Mapped: U.S. States by Cost Per Prisoner

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The U.S. has a prison population of over 1.2 million inmates.

In this map, we show the cost per prisoner across U.S. states, using data from USAFacts.

USAFacts sourced spending data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances (last updated in June 2023), and prison population data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (last updated November 2023).

Differences in Prison Spending Vary Widely Across States

More than $80 billion is spent annually on prisons in the United States.

A large part of this is used to pay over 4,000 vendors that serve the criminal legal system, including healthcare providers and food suppliers.

At the state level, most of the budget goes for day-to-day operations, including officer salaries.

In high-wage states such as California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, officers receive double the salaries compared to those in lower-wage states like Mississippi, Missouri, and Kentucky.

As a result, spending can vary from just under $23,000 per prisoner in Arkansas to $307,468 in Massachusetts.

StateExpenditure per prisoner (USD) Massachusetts307K Vermont134K New Jersey133K California128K Maine117K Rhode Island117K New York116K Maryland114K New Mexico113K Washington108K Connecticut103K Alaska93K Delaware91K Nebraska88K North Dakota84K West Virginia82K Minnesota80K Oregon79K Colorado76K Wyoming75K New Hampshire74K Utah73K Illinois68K Pennsylvania67K Michigan65K Wisconsin64K Montana64K North Carolina63K Hawaii62K Virginia61K Kansas49K South Dakota49K Ohio44K Idaho42K Iowa42K Florida42K Arizona41K Nevada40K Tennessee39K South Carolina38K Kentucky36K Indiana33K Alabama33K Missouri32K Oklahoma32K Texas31K Georgia30K Louisiana25K Mississippi24K Arkansas23K States With the Highest

The full article is available here. This article was published at Visual Capitalist.