Facility crowding affects a substantial proportion of youth in custody

Many juvenile offenders are in facilities with more residents than standard beds

Crowding occurs when the number of residents occupying all or part of a facility exceeds some predetermined limit based on square footage, utility use, or even fire codes. While an imperfect measure of crowding, comparing the number of residents to the number of standard beds gives a sense of the crowding problem in a facility. Even without relying on makeshift beds, however, a facility may be crowded. For example, using standard beds in an infirmary for youth who are not sick or beds in seclusion for youth who have not committed infractions may indicate crowding problems.

Thirty-six percent of facilities said that the number of residents they held on the 2002 census date put them at or over the capacity of their standard beds or that they relied on some makeshift beds. These facilities held more than 39,300 residents, the vast majority of whom were offenders younger than 21. Thus, 34% of all residents held on the census date and 34% of offenders younger than 21 were held in facilities operating at or above their standard bed capacity. In comparison, in 2000 such facilities held 40% of all residents. In 2002, facilities that reported being over capacity (having fewer standard beds than they had residents or relying on makeshift beds) accounted for 6% of facilities, but they held 14% of juvenile offenders.

Compared with other types of facilities, public detention centers and reception/diagnostic centers were more likely to be at or over standard bed capacity
	Percent of facilities at their standard bed capacity			Percent of facilities over their standard bed capacity
Facility Type	Total	Public	Private	Total	Public	Private
Total	30%	16%	39%	6%	15%	1%
Detention center	14	10	34	18	21	2
Shelter	17	15	18	2	5	0
Reception/ diagnostic center	26	19	34	10	17	2
Group home	43	29	46	1	3	1
Boot camp	16	13	22	5	5	6
Ranch/ wilderness camp	25	26	24	2	2	2
Training school	23	19	31	9	13	1
Note: A single bed is counted as one standard bed and a bunk bed is counted as two standard beds. Makeshift beds (e.g., cots, roll-out beds, mat­tresses, and sofas) are not counted as standard beds. Facilities are counted as over capacity if they reported more residents than standard beds or if they reported any occupied makeshift beds. Facilities could select more than one facility type category. Totals include data from 9 tribal facilities. Source: Author's analysis of Juvenile Residential Facility Census 2002 [machine-readable data file].

Larger facilities were more likely than smaller facilities to be crowded
Facility size	Number of facilities	Percent of facilities at or over their standard bed capacity			Mean number of makeshift beds
		>100%	100%	>100%
Total	2,964	36%	30%	6%	10
1–10 residents	1,003	39	38	1	2
11–20 residents	648	37	34	3	3
21–50 residents	704	34	24	10	7
51–100 residents	350	31	17	14	11
101–200 residents	171	37	20	16	21
201–972 residents	88	34	17	17	18
Note: A single bed is counted as one standard bed and a bunk bed is counted as two standard beds. Makeshift beds (e.g., cots, roll-out beds, mattresses, and sofas) are not counted as standard beds. Facilities are counted as over capacity if they reported more residents than standard beds or if they reported any occupied makeshift beds. Source: Author's analysis of Juvenile Residential Facility Census 2002 [machine-readable data file].

Public facilities were more likely than private facilities to be crowded

Among publicly operated facilities, 15% were over standard bed capacity or had residents occupying makeshift beds on the 2002 census date. For privately operated facilities, the proportion was 1%. A large proportion of private facilities (39%), however, said they were operating at 100% capacity.

State-operated public facilities had a somewhat greater proportion of facilities that were over capacity (17%) than did locally operated public facilities (13%).

Use of makeshift beds varied widely

Nationwide, 1,069 of 2,964 juvenile facilities (36%) were at or over standard capacity or relied on makeshift beds
State	Total facilities	Number of facilities under, at, or over capacity			Percent of juvenile offenders in facilities at or over capacity			Total facilities	Number of facilities under, at, or over capacity			Percent of juvenile offenders in facilities at or over capacity
		<100%	100%	>100%	100%	>100%	State		<100%	100%	>100%	100%	>100%
U.S. Total*	2,964	1,894	882	187	20%	14%	Missouri	72	48	20	4	27%	7%
Alabama	48	39	7	2	7	9	Montana	24	19	4	1	5	6
Alaska	23	14	5	4	12	59	Nebraska	19	16	1	2	0	33
Arizona	51	40	9	2	7	16	Nevada	18	11	5	2	39	31
Arkansas	35	25	10	0	22	0	New Hampshire	8	5	3	0	70	0
California	286	135	136	15	19	10	New Jersey	49	36	5	8	9	31
Colorado	65	41	16	8	25	36	New Mexico	27	20	4	3	9	15
Connecticut	26	17	8	1	26	7	New York	221	113	94	14	25	19
Delaware	6	3	0	3	0	83	North Carolina	66	52	12	2	7	4
District of Columbia	13	9	4	0	14	0	North Dakota	11	5	5	1	28	3
Florida	181	88	83	10	40	11	Ohio	97	58	23	16	12	21
Georgia	53	27	11	15	8	30	Oklahoma	56	24	32		42	0
Hawaii	5	4	0	1	0	65	Oregon	45	29	13	3	25	8
Idaho	22	17	4	1	6	5	Pennsylvania	179	125	48	6	33	5
Illinois	45	38	6	1	4	2	Rhode Island	14	4	9	1	23	64
Indiana	95	75	18	2	19	8	South Carolina	38	29	5	4	7	27
Iowa	65	46	19	0	36	0	South Dakota	22	13	8	1	31	1
Kansas	56	38	16	2	47	5	Tennessee	58	39	16	3	15	13
Kentucky	50	39	11	0	13	0	Texas	129	86	27	16	11	28
Louisiana	62	40	19	3	13	5	Utah	47	29	16	2	26	4
Maine	14	10	4		42	0	Vermont	5	3	2	0	28	0
Maryland	43	22	19	2	41	13	Virginia	71	49	13	9	16	18
Massachusetts	68	20	44	4	59	9	Washington	40	33	2	5	1	18
Michigan	94	67	24	3	14	4	West Virginia	23	13	6	4	10	24
Minnesota	100	79	21	0	16	0	Wisconsin	81	69	12	0	29	0
Mississippi	17	14	2	1	2	1	Wyoming	21	20	1	0	2	0
Note: A single bed is counted as one standard bed and a bunk bed is counted as two standard beds. Makeshift beds (e.g., cots, roll-out beds, mat­tresses, and sofas) are not counted as standard beds. Facilities are counted as over capacity if they reported more residents than standard beds or if they reported any occupied makeshift beds. State is the state where the facility is located. Offenders sent to out-of-state facilities are counted in the state where the facility is located, not the state where their offense occurred. * U.S. total includes 9 tribal facilities. These tribal facilities were located in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. One of the 9 tribal facilities held more residents than it had standard beds. Source: Author's analysis of Juvenile Residential Facility Census 2002 [machine-readable data file].

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Juvenile Residential Facility Census, 2002: Selected Findings	OJJDP National Report Series Bulletin June 2006