by Nicolas Lampert

—Number of federal prison inmates: 219,000 (about 14% of the total prison/jail population)

—Number of inmates in federal prisons for drug offenses, 1980: 4,700

—Number of inmates in federal prisons for drug offenses, 2010: 97,500

—Number of federal convictions for drug offenses each year: 25,000

—Number of federal drug convictions each year for lower-level drug offenses such as street dealing or delivering: 11,250

—Percentage of federal inmates convicted of drug offenses who are African-American: 30 percent

—Percentage of federal inmates convicted of drug offenses who are Hispanic: 40 percent

– The single largest driver in the increase in the federal prison population since 1998 is longer sentences for drug offenders.

– The average inmate in minimum-security federal prison costs $21,000 each year. The average inmate in maximum-security federal prisons costs $33,000 each year.

– Federal prison costs are expected to rise to 30 percent of the Department of Justice’s budget by 2020 .

Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, The Sentencing Project, and Wonkblog

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