In 2021, 1.2 million people were held in U.S. prisons and 636,300 persons in jails, a total incarceration population of nearly 2 million.
States may define ‘recidivism’ in various ways.
Recidivism is typically measured by criminal acts that resulted in the rearrest, reconviction, or return to prison with or without a new sentence within a one-, three-, five or ten-year period following the prisoner’s release.