U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Wisconsin Adult Jail Population, 1990

NCJ Number
135643
Date Published
1991
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The Wisconsin Statistical Analysis Center presents Wisconsin County Jail statistics on adults confined in local correctional facilities during 1990 and compares them with statistics from selected figures over the past 30 years. The report examines trends in adult jail admissions, average daily population figures, length of stay, rates of detention, and jail capacities.
Abstract
Between 1959 and 1990, adult jail admissions have increased by over 380 percent; there was an 82-percent increase since 1979. Furthermore, the detention rate increased by nearly 21 percent between 1988 and 1990. The proportion of female admissions doubled in the past 30 years, while the adult, white jail population increased slightly and the adult, black jail population decreased. The average daily population has increased steadily in the period between 1988 and 1990, mostly due to the increase in the number of admissions to jails. Overcrowding is widespread, particularly in the urban southeast and east-central areas of the State. But there has actually been a slight decrease in average daily population as a proportion of jail capacity. The average length of time spent in jail has remained stable, decreasing from 15.2 days in 1988 to 15 days in 1990. This report presents jail data by county as well as the number of full-time staff for each local correctional facility.