How much do states spend on prisoners?
Southern states spend the least per inmate and have some of the highest prison incarceration rates in the nation.
States incarcerated more than 1 million people at the end of 2021, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics data. To house them, state governments spent a combined $64.0 billion (inflation-adjusted). Spending per prisoner varies more than tenfold across states, from just under $23,000 per person in Arkansas to $307,468 in Massachusetts. Spending in Massachusetts was more than double any other state; the median state spent $64,865 per prisoner for the year.
How do states distribute corrections funding?
State correction departments allocate most of their budgets to prisons to pay for day-to-day operations, including officer salaries. Some states also fund additional rehabilitation programs, drug treatment centers, and juvenile justice initiatives from their corrections budgets.
State funding does not usually include jails, which hold people awaiting trial or people with sentences of one year or less. Jails are usually operated by county and city law enforcement agencies. However, Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Vermont have prison populations small enough to operate “unified” systems integrating the prison and jail systems.
Which states pay correctional officers the most?
The average annual salary for a correctional officer was $58,921 in 2023 after adjusting for inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Pay for correctional officers tends to track overall wages in a particular state. High-wage states like California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts pay officers double the salaries of officers in lower-wage states like Mississippi, Missouri, and Kentucky.
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Page sources
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Prisoners in 2022
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wages
