美国监禁制度(Incarceration in the United States),是美国对于重罪和其他违法行为的一种主要惩罚和改造方式。如被判轻罪的罪犯,可能只会在当地的市级或县级监狱服刑,或被处以如社区改造(中途之家(英语:halfway house))或软禁等制裁。监狱的运作安全级别各异,既有主要用来关押一些非暴力犯罪者的最低安全级别监狱,也有关押危险罪犯的超高度安全级别(Supermax)监狱。
胡桃街监狱的矫正制度受到其他地区的效仿,奥本监狱、西部重罪监狱等联邦监狱相继建立,而纽约州、密歇根州、宾夕法尼亚州也纷纷建立起州监狱。1891年,国会批准了《三监狱法案》(Three Prison Act),授权在堪萨斯州利文沃斯、佐治亚州亚特兰大以及华盛顿州麦克尼尔岛(McNeil Island)三处设立联邦重罪监狱,联邦监狱系统建立。[16]1907年,美国司法部设立监狱总监管一职,负责监督管理联邦监狱。1930年5月30日,国会通过议案批准成立联邦监狱局(Federal Bureau of Prisons),负责管理联邦监狱系统。[15][16]各州的监狱由各州矫正部门管辖。
暴力犯罪并不是美国入狱人数从1980年到2003年翻了四倍的原因。囚犯数增长的主因是公共政策的转变,使得监禁刑罚更多被使用且刑期延长。州立监狱中新增人数的四分之三都是非暴力犯罪者。“禁毒之战(英语:war on drugs)”的开展也使监狱人数激增,2000年,有22%的联邦、州立监狱囚犯是因毒品犯罪被判刑的。[29][30]
美国也关押了世界上最多的少年犯。司法统计局2009年12月的一份报告中称,根据2006年的青少年居住安置计划(Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement)进入由青少年司法和犯罪预防办公室(Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)管理的少管所者计有92,854人。[12][13]
2005年的报告估计约有27%的联邦监狱囚犯为非公民,他们合法或非法的来到美国,并犯下罪行。[41]但是,联邦监狱囚犯仅占所有在监人数的6%;在州立监狱和本地监狱中的非公民人数更难估计。世界监狱律师组织(The World Prison Brief)将在联邦、州立和地方监狱中关押的所有外籍囚犯比例确定为5.9%。[4]
囚犯被关押在安全级别不同的关押设施中,在安全措施、囚犯管理、牢房类型、狱警使用的武器和策略等方面不同。联邦政府的监狱管理局(英语:Bureau of Prisons)使用数字1到5来代表不同的安全级别。第5级是最高安全级别,第1级则是最低安全级别。州立监狱系统也有类似的系统。例如在加州,对它的监狱设施从I到V级(最低到最高安全级别)分级。[23]
美国的很多监狱面临超员问题。例如,加州的33个监狱共可容纳10万人,但他们实际上却关押了17万人。[51]许多加州和其他地方的监狱不得不将旧体育馆或教室改造成大型的牢房。他们在这些体育馆中摆放数百张双层床,没有任何设施将囚犯隔离开来。再加之人手不足,牢房中的暴力程度升级,每周都会有一人死亡。此种情况促使法庭援引美国宪法第八修正案禁止残酷和非常规惩罚的条文,下令加州必须释放27%的在押囚犯。[52]根据普拉塔诉施瓦辛格案(Plata v. Schwarzenegger)和科曼诉施瓦辛格案(Coleman v. Schwarzenegger)中法庭要求组成的三人合议庭的意见,加州监狱的超员问题已经成为犯罪的一大温床。[53]
^ 4.04.14.24.34.44.5Walmsley, Roy. World Prison Population List. 8th edition(PDF). International Centre for Prison Studies. School of Law, King's College London. 2009 [2010-11-24]. (原始内容(PDF)存档于2012-02-03). "The information is the latest available in early December 2008. ... Most figures relate to dates between the beginning of 2006 and the end of November 2008." According to the summary on page one there were 2.29 million U.S. inmates and 9.8 million inmates worldwide. The U.S. held 23.4% of the world's inmates. The U.S. total in this report is for Dec. 31, 2007 (see page 3) and does not include inmates in juvenile detention facilities. For the latest info worldwide see World Prison Brief (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆).
^ 6.06.16.26.3Correctional Populations in the United States, 2009 (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆). NCJ 231681. By Lauren Glaze. December 21, 2010. United States Bureau of Justice Statistics. See page 2 of the PDF file (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) for the percent of adults under correctional supervision. See appendix table 2 for the incarceration totals, breakdown, and rates. Its numbers are the custody numbers that avoid the duplication of jurisdiction numbers and multiple correctional statuses. For an explanation see the text box on page one.
^ 7.07.17.2Prison Brief for United States of America互联网档案馆的存檔,存档日期2012-06-23.. International Centre for Prison Studies. School of Law, King's College London. See "Prison population rate". It also has the estimated national population at the end of 2009 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
^ 8.08.18.2World Prison Brief - Highest to Lowest Figures (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆).International Centre for Prison Studies. School of Law, King's College London. Compare many nations. Select from menu: prison population total, prison population rate, percentage of pre-trial detainees / remand prisoners within the prison population, percentage of female prisoners within the prison population, percentage of foreign prisoners within the prison population and occupancy rate. 引用错误:带有name属性“WorldPrisonBrief”的<ref>标签用不同内容定义了多次
^ 12.012.112.212.312.4Prisoners in 2008 Wikiwix的存檔,存档日期2011-07-28. (NCJ 228417). December 2009 report from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. By William J. Sabol, Ph.D. and Heather C. West, Ph.D., BJS Statisticians. Also, Matthew Cooper, BJS Intern. Table 9 on page 8 of the PDF file (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) has the number of inmates in state or federal public prison facilities, local jails, U.S. territories, military facilities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) owned and contracted facilities, jails in Indian country, and juvenile facilities. Table 8 on page 8 has the incarceration rates for 2000, 2007, and 2008.
^ 13.013.113.213.3Sickmund, M., Sladky, T.J., Kang, W., & Puzzanchera, C. (2008). "Easy Access to the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement." Available: http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/ezacjrp (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) - click "crosstabs" at the top, and then choose the census year. Click "Show table" to get the total number of juvenile inmates for that year.
^ 19.019.1Harrison, Paige M.; Beck, Allen J. Prisoners in 2005(PDF). U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics: 13. November 2006 [2010-11-24]. (原始内容(PDF)存档于2010-06-02).
^Beck, Allen J.; Harrison, Paige M. Prisoners in 2004(PDF). Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2005-10-23 [2006-06-28]. (原始内容(PDF)存档于2010-06-02).
^ 27.027.127.2West, Heather; Sabol, William. Prisoners in 2009(PDF). Bureau of Justice Statistics. December 2010 [2010-12-25]. (原始内容(PDF)存档于2011-10-27).
^ 32.032.132.2Prison Inmates at Midyear 2009 - Statistical Tables (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) - U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, published June 2010. See tables 16-19 for totals and rates for blacks, Hispanics, and whites. Broken down by year, gender, and age. See page 2 for "Selected characteristics of inmates held in custody in state or federal prisons or in local jails". It has the overall incarceration rate.
^Prison Inmates at Midyear 2009 - Statistical Tables & Prisoners at Year-end 2009 - Advance Counts (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆). U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, press release Jun 30 2010. "Black males, with an incarceration rate of 4,749 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, were incarcerated at a rate more than six times higher than white males (708 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents) and 2.6 times higher than Hispanic males (1,822 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents)."
^Zaitow, Barbara H. and Jim Thomas. Women in Prison: Gender and Social Control. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003. vii (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆). Retrieved from Google Books on March 10, 2011. ISBN 1588262286, 9781588262288.
^Order for population reduction plan (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆), pg. 9, three-judge court convened by the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit hearing Plata v. Schwarzenegger and Coleman v. Schwarzenegger
^Maahs, J. & Pratt, T. (1999). Are Private Prisons More Cost-Effective Than Public Prisons? A Meta-Analysis of Evaluation Research Studies. Crime & Delinquency, 45(3), 358-371. Retrieved October 2, 2006, from SAGE database.
^原文:Still, it is the length of sentences that truly distinguishes American prison policy. Indeed, the mere number of sentences imposed here would not place the United States at the top of the incarceration lists. If lists were compiled based on annual admissions to prison per capita, several European countries would outpace the United States. But American prison stays are much longer, so the total incarceration rate is higher. ... "Rises and falls in Canada's crime rate have closely paralleled America's for 40 years," Mr. Tonry wrote last year. "But its imprisonment rate has remained stable."