Women’s prison population, correctional costs projected to grow through 2035

It costs significantly more to incarcerate women than men, adding to the financial burden on state and local correctional systems, according to a new report from the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice.

The report estimates that imprisoning a woman costs between $87,000 and $122,000 a year, or roughly 25% to 75% more than the average annual cost of about $70,000 per incarcerated person, including both men and women.  Women make up about 10% of the nation’s correctional population.

Researchers attributed the higher costs to a combination of factors, including smaller prison populations, the need to house women with different security classifications in the same facilities and higher healthcare expenses.

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“As the number and cost of incarcerating women grow, policymakers have an opportunity to pursue approaches that better enhance accountability, public safety, fiscal responsibility, and the well-being of families and communities,” Stephanie Akhter, the director of the Council on Criminal Justice’s Women’s Justice Commission, said in a news release.

The report projects those costs will continue to grow over the next decade. Researchers estimate the number of women under correctional control, including prisons, jails, probation and parole, will rise from about 992,000 in 2022 to 1.1 million by 2035.

Most of that growth is expected to occur in confinement settings. The women’s prison population is projected to increase 27% by 2035, while the jail population is expected to grow 20%, according to the report.

As a result, annual spending associated with women’s involvement in the justice system is projected to rise from between $23 billion and $26 billion in 2025 to between $30 billion and $34 billion by 2035.

The report says the increase reflects both projected population growth and rising correctional costs. Researchers noted that women’s prison populations declined during the COVID-19 pandemic but have been growing again since 2021, in some places rebounding faster than men’s populations.

The analysis also attempted to quantify some costs that fall outside correctional budgets. Researchers estimated that the loss of unpaid household labor and caregiving performed by women in prison amounts to about $2.8 billion annually, a figure projected to rise to $3.8 billion by 2035.

A companion report released alongside the analysis modeled the effects of cutting women’s time served in prison by 50% in Illinois and North Carolina. Researchers estimated that earlier releases would result in roughly 100 additional arrests annually in each state among women who otherwise would have remained incarcerated, with about 9 in 10 involving nonviolent offenses, while generating more than $60 million a year in net savings.

The reports were prepared for the Council on Criminal Justice’s Women’s Justice Commission, which studies women’s involvement in the criminal justice system and related policy issues.

Stateline reporter Amanda Watford can be reached at [email protected].