Federal inmate population, as reported by BOP, continues steady decline (which continues my wondering about data)
Another Thursday brings another new check on the federal Bureau of Prisons' updated "Total Federal Inmates" numbers. In prior posts here and here, I highlighted that, according to BOP's reporting of the numbers, throughout the month of April the federal prison population was shrinking about 1,000 persons per week. As we now approach the end of May, the new numbers at this webpage continue to show weekly declines this month checking in around 1,200 on average: the population dropped from 170,435 (as of April 30) to 169,080 (as of May 7, 2020) to 167,803 (as of May 14, 2020) to 166,647 (as of May 21, 2020) to now a BOP reported total of 165,575.
I have repeatedly suggestions that a reduced inflow of federal inmates — due to many sentencings and reportings to prisons being delayed — has likely been playing a big role in the significant reported population declines in recent months. But, in this recent post noting a BOP press release about coming inmate transfers, I wondered if the historic COVID-era decline in the BOP numbers has been mostly an artifice of 6,800 federal prisoners not being officially "counted" while being held in local detention facilities during the COVID shutdown. Because this week we have not yet seen a spike in BOP reported inmates, and in fact declines are continuing at a steady pace, I am left to continue wondering just what the heck is going on and what these number now "really" represent about the federal prison population and COVID's impact.
A few of many prior related posts:
- Noticing the continued decline of the federal prison population (for now) ... and a story embedded with intricacies (from Jan 2018)
- Federal prison population, thanks in part to the FIRST STEP Act, hits lowest level in over 15 years (from July 2019)
- Federal prison population, due seemingly to COVID responses, hits another modern low (which is still very high) (from April 2020)
- According to BOP reporting, federal prison population now shrinking about 1,000 persons per week (from April 2020)
- Are federal judges approaching prison sentencing differently now that they see BOP ugliness up close? (from May 2020)
- Federal prison population drops below 170,000 for first time in nearly two decades (from three weeks ago)
- As federal prison population continues remarkable decline, can anyone predict what might be a new normal? (from two weeks ago)
- Is the number of federal prisoners about to spike up as BOP moves nearly 7000 new inmates into federal facilities? (last week)
Comments
Post a Comment