MORE THAN 158,000 PERSONS WERE BEING HELD IN LOCALLY OPERATED JAILS IN FEBRUARY 1978, 12 PERCENT OVER THE 1972 TOTAL. JAILS WERE PRINCIPALLY BEING USED AS TEMPORARY CONFINEMENT FACILITIES FOR CONVICTED PERSONS AND AS PLACES FOR SERVING OUT SENTENCES FOR MISDEMEANANT OFFENSES. COMPARED WITH STATE AND FEDERAL PRISONS, JAILS HELD A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF PERSONS CONVICTED OF VIOLENT CRIMES, BUT A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF PERSONS CONVICTED OF PROPERTY AND PUBLIC ORDER OFFENSES. WHITES OUTNUMBERED BLACKS, BUT THE PROPORTION OF BLACKS IN JAIL FAR EXCEEDED THEIR TOTAL POPULATION PERCENTAGE. THE MAJORITY OF INMATES, MEN IN THEIR 20'S HAD NOT COMPLETED HIGH SCHOOL AND HAD EXTREMELY LOW INCOMES PRIOR TO THEIR ARREST, OR WERE JOBLESS. NEARLY HALF OF THE 3,493 JAILS SURVEYED, HOLDING ABOUT 43 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL INMATES, WERE IN THE SOUTH. TABLES SHOW SELECTED DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIOECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS AND SELECTED OFFENSE-RELATED CHARACTERISTICS OF JAIL INMATES, AND PROVIDE A BREAKDOWN OF INMATE POPULATIONS BY REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY AND BY STATE. (DAG)