Arizona incarceration creeping back up after pandemic-era drop
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Arizona saw its incarceration rate fall amid the pandemic, but its numbers have been creeping back up since.
Why it matters: The state has one of the nation's highest incarceration rates, which criminal justice reform advocates often attribute to harsh sentencing laws.
- Based on 2022 data, Arizona had the country's seventh highest rate, according to The Sentencing Project.
By the numbers: Since experiencing a post-pandemic dip, the number of people incarcerated by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry has been on the rise, according to the department's monthly reports and data from the National Institute of Corrections.
- State prison incarceration reached a high of more than 50,000 people in December 2017, per the institute.
- As of July 2022, the state reported the number had dropped to 33,326.
- But the total climbed to 34,547 in January 2024.
Context: Most states locked up fewer people as court proceedings came to a standstill during the pandemic, Mike Wessler, a spokesperson for the nonpartisan nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative, told Axios Phoenix.
- Arizona's inmate population fell from just under 42,000 in March 2020 to 37,731 by the end of that year.
Incarceration rates are slowly ticking back up to pre-pandemic levels, Wessler said.
- A Prison Policy Initiative report cited Arizona as one of at least two states where increases in 2023 erased decreases from the previous year.
The other side: Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer told Axios Phoenix the increase in incarceration since June 2022 has been minor, noting Arizona's numbers are still far below pre-pandemic highs.
- He attributed the increase to population growth.
Between the lines: When it comes to both state and federal inmates, Arizona's rate also decreased in the wake of the pandemic, according to a recent U.S. Department of Justice report.
- Arizona was one of eight states where the DOJ found total incarceration decreased between 2021 and 2022.
- Reality check: That decrease was by just 0.1%.
Zoom out: By comparison, the total U.S. prison population rose 2.1% at the same time. It was "the first increase in the combined state and federal prison population in almost a decade," per the report.
- The data is based on the department's National Prisoner Statistics program, an annual national census of prison populations, capacity and more.
The nationwide increase is especially notable in the late pandemic era, given that many prisons suffered significant and often deadly COVID-19 outbreaks.
Flashback: Some nonviolent offenders were moved to home confinement during the height of the pandemic in an effort to curb viral spread in prisons.
What we're watching: Arizona is among a handful of states that still have "truth in sentencing" laws, which abolished parole and require most inmates to serve at least 85% of their sentences.
- Bipartisan legislation to loosen that law fell short in recent years.
Republican lawmakers have sponsored numerous bills this year that would increase prison time for various offenses, including organized retail theft and selling fentanyl.
- That's even though Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a similar bill to create stiffer penalties for fentanyl possession last year.