WASHINGTON, (AFP) – The US federal prison population has declined for the first time since 1980 following last year’s major reforms led by Attorney General Eric Holder, officials said Tuesday.
The number of inmates slid by 4,800 in the last year and is expected to keep declining over the next two decades, losing the equivalent of six federal prisons – or 10,000 inmates – by around 2016.
The population behind bars in federal facilities is about 215,000, according to latest official figures. It does not include state prisons.
Holder hailed the decrease as “a paradigm shift”.
“This is nothing less than historic,” he said in New York.
“Criminal justice reform is an idea whose time has come.”
The US has five percent of the world’s population, but is home to almost a quarter of all prisoners behind bars globally, according to Holder, who called for a more balanced approach to incarceration.
“We must never, and we will never, stop being vigilant against crime, and the conditions and choices that breed it,” he said.
“But for far too long – under well-intentioned policies designed to be ‘tough’ on criminals – our system has perpetuated a destructive cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration that has trapped countless people and weakened entire communities, particularly communities of colour,” Holder said.
In mid-2013, Holder led reforms that included easing up on heavy jail sentences for first-time offenders or people with minor drug offenses.
The reforms also allow early release for some inmates considered low risk.
