Louisiana Incarceration Rate Highest among 50 states

Louisiana incarcerates more of its citizens than any other state. One of every 55 Louisiana residents is incarcerated according to a new Pew Center for the States study. Mississippi is ranked second, Texas fifth, Alabama sixth, and Florida eighth. The same study, One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, finds that one of every 31 U.S. adults is under some form of correctional supervision. Whereas 2.1 million people were in the correctional system in 1982, that number has grown to 7.3 million today. The national rate of incarceration has increased by 272 percent since 1982. The study also found racial disparity in corrections. Whereas whites are under correctional supervision at a rate of 1 in every 45 and Hispanics 1 in every 27, blacks are under correctional control at a rate of 1 in 11.

See full text of study here.