The Prison Population

Abstract

In 1921 the Howard Journal recorded a steep drop in the annual number of prisoners received into prison over the past decade. We now know that this abatement of imprisonment was but part of a remarkable, 60-year period of ‘decarceration’ between 1880 and 1939. Yet we also know that the daily average population of prisoners rose from 11,000 in the late 1930s to 84,000 in 2008, and still hovers around the 80,000 mark today. This article explores the rise in the prison population over the last century in five stages of ascent, in conjunction with the sentencing and penal policy, and Howard League for Penal Reform advocacy, which were associated with each stage. The pressure of numbers has been the most persistent barrier to improving prison conditions and the efficacy of imprisonment. How to reverse the seemingly inexorable rise in prison population remains the key question for sentencing and penal policy.