(Authored for the Vera Institute.)

As the United States enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) collected data on changes in the number of people incarcerated in state and federal prisons in 2021. This report shows that the total number of people in prisons declined by a mere 1.1 percent between the end of 2020 and the end of 2021. All states and the federal prison system reduced their prison populations in 2020, but 19 states and the federal government increased the number of people incarcerated in prisons in 2021.

Conditions inside prisons—including high populations and inadequate vaccination and hygiene protocols—meant that, in winter 2021-22, both correctional officers and incarcerated people experienced high levels of COVID-19. Research has clearly demonstrated that incarceration also increases the level of COVID-19 infection in communities outside of prisons and jails. All levels of government should take action to further reduce the number of people held in jails and prisons.

For more information, read the report or coverage in Gothamist. If you would like to view most of the source data used in the report download this file.