Census of Jails

The Census of Jails, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, is a primary administrative data collection dedicated to the study of local jails, providing state-level and national statistics on the number of inmates confined in jails, characteristics of the jail population, counts of admissions and releases, and jail facility characteristics. Administered to about 2,900 local jails nationwide, the Census of Jails is the only collection that generates a complete enumeration of all local jails in the United States.

• Data Archive
• BJS Reports