Woohooooo... you GO Texas!

from the Houston Chronicle Texas again leads U.S. in prisoners Study puts state ahead of California By R.G. RATCLIFFE Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau AUSTIN -- A federal study released Thursday shows that Texas led the nation in the number of inmates incarcerated in state prisons and county jails in June 2003. Texas had 164,222 inmates on the last day of that month, about 800 more than California. The Texas inmate population was up by 4.2 percent, or 6,578 inmates, from June 2002, according to the study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Although Texas had the most inmates incarcerated from 1999-2001, according to the bureau's midyear reports, California edged ahead of the Lone Star State in June 2002. Texas' June 2003 incarceration rate also was the highest in the nation, with 692 inmates per 100,000 population. Mississippi ran a close second with an incarceration rate of 688 per 100,000 residents. Though the number of people incarcerated in California was almost the same as in Texas, California's incarceration rate was far lower: 455 inmates per 100,000 residents. Nationally, the average number of sentenced inmates incarcerated was 480 per 100,000 U.S. residents. Among local jails, Harris County ranked fifth in the nation for the average number of persons held on a daily basis -- 7,300 in 2003. Los Angeles County held an average daily population of 21,184; New York City, 14,533; Cook County, Ill., 10,864; and Maricopa County, Ariz., 8,044, according to the report. The report is compiled twice a year by the bureau, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The statistics are based on information provided by the states. Overall, the report said the nation's federal, state and local prisons and jails were holding more than 2 million people on June 30, 2003, the largest number in four years. During a 12-month period, the states' prison inmate population grew by an average of 2.6 percent and the federal inmate population grew by 5.4 percent. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Mike Viesca initially dismissed the federal report as incorrect. Viesca said the Texas prison system has housed an average of 148,000 in each of the past three years. "Who are you going to trust? Me or the federal government?" Viesca said. Paige Harrison, one of the authors of the study for the U.S. Department of Justice division, said her numbers are accurate because they were provided to the agency by TDCJ. "I think he's got some bodies around there he's not counting," Harrison said. The most likely cause of the initial 16,000 inmate discrepancy, Harrison said, was the fact the federal government counts what Texas calls "paper ready" inmates. Those are ones who have been convicted and sentenced and are waiting in a county jail for transfer to the state prison system. "Our definition may be a little more broad than what they are representing to you," Harrison said. "We stand by the numbers we have." Viesca said counting those inmates may be fair for a comparison among the states, but he said the state prison system only counts 148,000 inmates. "The population we always cite to everyone is 148,000," Viesca said. The California Department of Corrections earlier this month told the Los Angeles Times that it had a prison population of 162,515 inmates. That state currently is undergoing a prison overcrowding crisis.