The inmate population in Indian country jails increased about 2 percent to 2,176 offenders between midyear 2008 and 2009, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics announced today. Indian country jails are operated by tribal authorities or the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Eighty Indian country jails, confinement facilities, detention centers, and other correctional facilities reported inmate counts to BJS in 2009, down from 82 facilities in 2008.
Nationwide, American Indians and Alaska Natives under correctional supervision in the U.S. increased 5.6 percent, from an estimated 75,400 offenders in 2008 to 79,600 in 2009. Nearly two-thirds of the population (63 percent or 50,200) was under supervision in the community on probation or parole in 2009, and about a third (29,400 or 37 percent) was in prison or jail. Among American Indians and Alaska Natives in prison or jail at midyear 2009, almost half (14,646) were confined in state prison; about 11 percent (3,154) were held in federal prison; and 32 percent (9,400) were in local jails operated by county or municipal authorities. Indian country jails held 7.4 percent of the population under correctional supervision.