Study Finds 0.38% Of Tennessee Residents Are Incarcerated

Tennessee Prisons Now Hold 26,349 People And 60,622 Residents Are On Probation.

(The Center Square) – The number of incarcerated individuals in Tennessee stands at 384 per 100,000 residents, the 20th-highest rate among the 50 states, according to new data from the Sentencing Project.

A total of 26,349 people are now imprisoned in Tennessee, according to the study, which also reported that 60,622 residents were on probation. 

Other issues quantified in the Sentencing Project numbers include racial disparities, the number of juveniles in custody and spending on states’ corrections systems. The nonprofit group obtains its data from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and National Association of State Budget Officers.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any nation in the world, with 2.2 million people behind bars, according to the Sentencing Project. The number of Americans in prison or jail has increased fivefold over the last four decades, the researchers found.

Changes in public policies and laws have been driving this increase, the study says. The result has been serious overcrowding problems in prisons and added financial burdens for states, according to the data. 

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Incarceration Rates by State

Rank (Highest to Lowest Imprisonment Rate)	State	Imprisonment Rate (per 100,000 Residents)	Prison Population	Probation Population	Parole Population
1	Louisiana	680	31,584	38,822	32,196
2	Oklahoma	639	25,338	42,052	1,781
3	Mississippi	636	18,915	27,820	9,392
4	Arkansas	586	17,713	33,622	23,782
5	Arizona	558	40,951	77,129	7,537
6	Texas	529	154,479	371,361	109,151
7	Kentucky	516	23,082	44,480	16,338
8	Georgia	507	54,113	419,993	21,067
9	Idaho	475	8,571	33,002	5,102
10	Florida	444	96,009	209,714	4,419
11	Montana	440	4,723	9,358	1,276
12	Ohio	430	50,338	233,580	20,703
13 (tie)	South Dakota	428	3,797	5,631	2,968
13 (tie)	Wyoming	428	2,479	5,097	900
15	Missouri	424	26,038	42,526	17,623
16	Virginia	422	36,091	62,443	1,709
17	Alabama	419	20,595	51,961	9,358
18	Nevada	413	12,840	13,625	5,033
19	Indiana	399	26,969	111,156	7,073
20	Tennessee	384	26,349	60,622	11,132
21	Delaware	382	3,735	15,010	368
22 (tie)	Michigan	381	38,053	153,345	15,722
22 (tie)	West Virginia	381	6,800	6,196	3,690
24	Wisconsin	378	22,039	43,542	21,095
25	Pennsylvania	355	45,485	180,901	111,185
26 (tie)	Oregon	353	14,943	38,936	24,539
26 (tie)	South Carolina	353	18,295	32,697	4,565
28	Kansas	342	9,965	16,909	5,282
29	Colorado	341	19,785	81,125	10,237
30	New Mexico	316	6,634	12,352	2,708
31	North Carolina	313	33,042	82,199	13,802
32	California	310	122,417	233,046	95,148
33	Maryland	305	18,476	71,352	10,338
34	Illinois	302	38,259	86,538	28,794
35	Iowa	293	9,260	29,152	6,414
36	Nebraska	289	5,596	14,255	985
37	Washington	250	19,184	76,349	11,663
38	Connecticut	245	8,751	40,307	3,548
39	Alaska	244	1,782	2,491	1,563
40	North Dakota	231	1,767	6,297	904
41	New York	224	43,439	98,685	44,572
42	Hawaii	215	3,037	19,830	1,666
43	New Jersey	210	18,613	139,498	15,005
44	Utah	209	6,662	12,514	3,781
45	New Hampshire	197	2,691	3,914	2,436
46	Vermont	182	1,137	4,138	861
47	Minnesota	176	9,982	98,746	7,048
48	Rhode Island	156	1,656	21,927	451
49	Maine	146	1,967	6,709	20
50	Massachusetts	133	7,503	57,261	1,423

Source: The Sentencing Project