Jailing
Communities
The Impact of Jail Expansion and
Effective Public Safety Strategies
A Justice Policy Institute Report
April 2008
By Amanda Petteruti and Nastassia Walsh

About the Authors
Amanda Petteruti is a researcher and policy analyst with approximately seven years of
combined experience in education and criminal justice policy. Early in her career, she
organized a writing program for youth at the National Campaign to Stop Violence and
provided general support to the National Juvenile Defender Center. Prior to joining the
staff of the Justice Policy Institute, she conducted research on issues pertaining to urban
education at the Council of the Great City Schools. Petteruti earned a Master of Arts
in education policy and leadership from the University of Maryland College Park and
a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Bates College. Petteruti has contributed to several
reports related to education policy and co-authored The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial
Impact of Drug Imprisonment and the Characteristics of Punitive Counties and JPI’s Public
Safety Policy Brief series.
Nastassia Walsh is JPI’s research assistant. She joined JPI shortly after earning her
Master’s Degree in forensic psychology from Marymount University, where she studied
psychological principles in the law and injustices in the criminal justice system. She
started her education by earning a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and justice
studies from Arizona State University. Walsh has co-authored several reports while at
JPI, including Maryland’s Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentencing Laws, The Consequences Aren’t Minor, and JPI’s Public Safety Policy Brief series. Walsh is an active volunteer
at Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources (OAR) of Fairfax County, Virginia, an
organization that aids both incarcerated adults and people recently released from jail in
their re-entry process to help break the cycle of incarceration.

Acknowledgments
This report would not have been possible without the generous support of the Drug
Policy Alliance, Open Society Institute, and the Public Welfare Foundation.
The authors would like to thank Lucas Radzinschi, Sara Bastomski, Adriana Vecchio,
Kristen Driggers, Whitney Viets, and Alex Melonas for their invaluable research assistance. Special thanks to Tim Murray and David Levin at the Pretrial Justice Institute,
David Fathi, Jody Kent, Alan Henry, Art Wallenstein, Philip Fornaci, and the staff of
the National Association of Counties for their critical insight. Finally, we are indebted
to Ali Riker, Craig Gilmore, Ari Wohlfeiler, Jane Browning, and Dana Kaplan for their
review of this report. The report was edited by Sarah Baker and designed by Lynn Riley.
JPI staff includes Sheila Bedi, Debra Glapion, LaWanda Johnson, Laura Jones, Amanda
Petteruti, Emily Sydnor, Nastassia Walsh, and Jason Ziedenberg.

2	

Jailing Communities: The Impact of Jail Expansion and Effective Public Safety Strategies

Contents
2	

Introduction: Jails Are Part of the Country’s Mass Incarceration Challenge

		
		

Why are America’s jail populations on the rise?
Why are growing jail populations a concern for communities?

5	

Background: What Are Jails and How Are They Used?

6	

Why Are Jail Populations Growing?

		
Prison overcrowding
		
Changes in policing practices
		
Jails have become institutions for people with mental illness
		
People detained for immigration violations are increasingly held in jails
		
More people are being held pretrial
		More people are denied pretrial release and of those who are granted bail,
fewer can afford to post it
Outcomes of people released pretrial
Fewer people are serving sentences in the community
15	

What Are the Consequences of Over-Using Jails?

		
		
		

Jails have a harmful effect on people who are held in them
Jails are costly and negatively impact communities
Jails are harmful to the environment

23	Building More Jail Beds and Holding More People in Jail Has Not Been
Shown to Make Communities Safer
		
		

People incarcerated for nonviolent offenses make up the majority of people in jail
Community supervision can be a more effective public safety strategy than incarceration

26	

The Impact of the Increased Use of Jails in the U.S. Is Not Borne Equally

27	

Recommendations: Communities Can Take Action to Reduce Jail Populations

29	Appendix: Types of Bonds
30	

Endnotes

Introduction: Jails Are Part of the Country’s
Mass Incarceration Challenge
Jails have historically been overlooked as a
contributing factor to the United States’ addiction to
incarceration. While the prison population continues to grow steadily, albeit at a slower pace than 10
years ago, the jail population has increased dramatically. Although the United States still has the highest
incarceration rate in the world,1 prison population
growth has slowed since the 1990s. In 2006, prison
population growth was half what it was in 1996, but
in recent years, jail population growth has exceeded
that of prisons. Public attention has been focused on
prisons, with increased support for reducing prison
spending, sentencing reform, and treatment rather
than incarceration for drug addiction.2 However, the
same attention has not been leveled at jails and the
impact that they have on the people held in them,
the communities surrounding them, and the counties that must bear the financial burden.3
*AIL