U.S. Prison Population Peaks; Black Men Incarcerated at Six Times the White Rate

By 2008 the U.S. incarcerated 2.3 million people — the world's largest prison population. Black men were incarcerated at a rate of 3,161 per 100,000, compared to 487 per 100,000 for white men. One in nine Black men aged 20–34 was behind bars. The Pew Center reported that 1 in 100 American adults was incarcerated; for Black men in their thirties, the ratio was 1 in 36.