At midyear 2019, the United States had 1,677 adult correctional facilities operated by state corrections departments, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and private contractors, together holding about 1,360,634 prisoners in custody. The figures below come from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' periodic census of these facilities. They cover state and federal prisons only — county and city jails are counted in a separate collection and are not included here.
How many prisons are there, and who runs them?
| All adult correctional facilities | 1,677 |
| Public (state + federal) | 1,266 |
| — Federal Bureau of Prisons | 111 |
| — State-operated | 1,155 |
| Privately operated | 411 |
Roughly 1 in 4 facilities is privately operated, though private facilities hold a much smaller share of the total population than their count suggests.
Confinement vs. community-based facilities
Facilities fall into two broad types. Confinement facilities — traditional prisons where most prisoners cannot leave unaccompanied — made up about 69% of facilities but held roughly 95% of all prisoners. Community-based facilities such as halfway houses and work-release centers made up the rest.
| Confinement facilities | 1,161 facilities · 1,297,856 prisoners |
| Community-based facilities | 516 facilities · 62,778 prisoners |
Security levels
Among confinement facilities, the split across physical security levels was relatively even:
| Maximum security | 376 facilities |
| Medium security | 451 facilities |
| Minimum security | 287 facilities |
About 292 confinement facilities were operating above their rated or design capacity at midyear 2019.
Staffing
Confinement facilities employed roughly 240,024 security staff nationwide, for an overall prisoner-to-security-staff ratio of about 5 to 1. The ratio rose sharply on overnight shifts, when far fewer staff are on duty.
Programs and conditions
About 95% of confinement facilities offered at least one education program (such as GED or vocational training). Facilities also reported roughly 75,505 prisoners held in restrictive housing — confinement to a cell for at least 22 hours a day — on the census date.
Find a specific facility
The numbers above are national totals. To look up an individual prison — its location, contact information, visiting rules, and inmate-search link — use the JailData directory:
Search the prison directory or browse prisons by state.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities, 2019 — Statistical Tables (NCJ 301366, November 2021). Figures cover state and federal adult correctional facilities only and exclude locally operated jails. This is the most recent completed census; the 2024 round was in progress at the time of writing.