ONE IN EVERY 31 U.S. ADULTS WERE IN PRISON OR JAIL OR ON PROBATION OR PAROLE IN 2007
"More than 7.3 million men and women were under correctional supervision in the nation’s prisons or jails or on probation or parole at yearend 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. About 3.2 percent of the U.S. adult population, or one in every 31 adults, was incarcerated or under community supervision at the end of 2007. This percentage has remained stable since reaching more than 3 percent in 1999..

The report, Prisoners in 2007 (NCJ-224280), was written by BJS statisticians Heather C. West and William J. Sabol, Ph.D., and Probation and Parole in the United States, 2007 – Statistical Tables (NCJ-224707) was prepared by BJS statisticians Lauren E. Glaze and Thomas P. Bonczar.