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Serving People from Arrest to Reintegration

Census Bureau Data on Disproportionate Incarceration of Minority Populations

  • Organization: US Census Bureau
  • Document Type: Report
  • Date Created: Friday, October 12, 2007
  • Submitted: Friday, October 12, 2007
  • Attachment(s): LINK
On September 27, the U.S. Census Bureau released 2006 data on the social, racial, and economic characteristics of people living in adult correctional facilities, college housing, and nursing homes. It is the first in-depth look at people living in "group quarters" since the 1980 census. According to the report's findings, more than three times as many black people live in prison cells as in college dorms; the ratio is only slightly lower for Hispanics, at 2.7 inmates for every Latino in college housing. Among non-Hispanic whites, more than twice as many live in college housing as in prison or jail.