Who’s In Prison? The Changing Demographics of Incarceration

This issue of California Counts examines in detail the new demographics of California’s prisons. Since 1990, the number of prisoners in California has risen three times faster than the state’s overall adult population, to almost 168,000 prisoners in 2005. Researchers also found that adults younger than 25 account for a declining segment of the prison population while the share of adults 50 and older has nearly tripled, and that the state’s San Joaquin Valley and Inland Empire regions contribute disproportionately to the inmate population.