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1.8 million people are incarcerated at a cost of $5.9 billion dollars per year.*
*2017 statistics from Bureau of Prisons Statistics and 2015 statistics from Vera survey of state prison expenditures.
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There is a 500% increase in rates of incarceration increase over the past 30 years.**
** The Sentencing Project
Women’s Challenges
The number of women in prison increased by 750% between 1980 and 2017.
More than 220,000 women are now incarcerated.
The growth of women in prison is twice the rate of men since 1980.
A study by the Center for Effective Public Policy for the National Institute of Corrections cites well known clinician and researcher, Stephanie Covington, who explains:
“Women’s most common pathways to crime are based on survival of abuse, poverty and the combination of substance abuse and mental illness.”
The Challenge in Colorado
The Colorado Department of Corrections reports that:
- as of September 2019, 19,748 men and women are incarcerated in state public and private facilities at an average cost of $39,701 per year.
- on average, 825 people are released each month.
- approximately 285 people are released annually through Longmont Parole.
The Colorado Department of Corrections reports that the recidivism rate, or the rate at which offenders return to prison within a 3-year period, is over 50%.
(2015 statistics from Colorado Department of Corrections)