The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) recently released its annual count of prisoners under the jurisdiction of state and federal correctional authorities. Using data collected by Abt Associates, the summary found that the number of prisoners in state and federal custody at the end of 2014 (the most recent year for which data is available) was estimated to be slightly more than 1.5 million, a 1 percent decrease from 2013’s summary. This was the smallest total prison population since 2005 and the second-largest decline in more than 35 years.
 
Read the summary.