Here's the latest report from the Justice Department, Prevalence of Imprisonment in the U.S. Population, 1974 -2001, released this afternoon.

The report discloses that more than 5.6 million, about 1 in 37 adults, have served time in state or federal prison. This appears to include only prisons and not local jails, which would make the number of persons who have been incarcerated much higher.

More than 5.6 million adult U.S. residents were serving time or had previously served time in a state or federal prison as of the end of 2001, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. The extent of prison experience, as estimated for the first time, shows that 1 in 37 adults living in the U.S. on December 31, 2001 had been confined in prison at some time during his or her life. At the end of 2001, there were 1,319,000 adults in prison and an estimated 4,299,000 adults who were former prisoners.

The increase in the number of inmates between 1974 and 2001 is 3.8 million. Again, the total of persons serving time in prison in this period is 5.6 million. Here's a portion of the racial and gender breakdown:

At the end of 2001, about 16.6 percent of adult black males were current or former inmates, compared to 7.7 percent of Hispanic males and 2.6 percent of white males. Among black males 35 to 44 years of age, 22 percent were current or former prisoners, compared to 10 percent of Hispanic males and 3.5 percent of white males in the same age group.