ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL CENSUS, FEDERAL INMATES ARE ABOUT TWICE AS LIKELY TO BE IN THE 'NEVER MARRIED', CATEGORY AS THE GENERAL POPULATION, THREE TIMES AS LIKELY TO BE DIVORCED, SEPARATED, OR WIDOWED, AND ONLY ABOUT HALF AS LIKELY TO BE MARRIED. THIS STUDY IS INTENDED TO TEST THESE FINDINGS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE REPORTED DIFFERENCES ACTUALLY EXIST. THE DATA EXAMINE THE MARITAL STATUS OF INMATES AND THE GENERAL POPULATION BY CONTROLLING FOR: AGE ALONE; AGE AND RACE; AGE, RACE, AND SEX, OMITTING FEMALES; AND DIFFERENCES IN MARITAL STATUS WITHIN A PRISON POPULATION, CONTROLLING FOR AGE AND RACE. THE SAMPLE WAS TAKEN FROM A CENSUS OF INMATES OF ILLINOIS ADULT CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES AND FROM THE PUBLIC USE SAMPLE TAPE OF THE 1970 U.S. CENSUS, HOWEVER, THE REPORT DOES NOT INDICATE SAMPLE SIZE. ONLY DATA FOR INMATES AND ILLINOIS INHABITANTS 18 TO 54 YEARS OF AGE WERE INCLUDED. THE CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY SUGGEST THAT PRISON INMATES ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE SINGLE, SEPARATED, OR DIVORCED AND FAR LESS LIKELY TO BE MARRIED WITH THEIR SPOUSE PRESENT THAN THE GENERAL POPULATION, EVEN WHEN AGE, RACE, AND SEX ARE HELD CONSTANT. TABULAR DATA AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED THROUGHOUT THE TEXT. (AJJ)