Time Machine Tuesday: Colorado Prison Populations

How much has Colorado’s prison population grown in 40 years?  As of July 31, there are 17,497 inmates in Colorado public and private prisons.  This is quite an increase from 1976, when the incarcerated population was 2,260!  This info is detailed in a 1978 report from the Department of Corrections, which analyzed how prison population projections are made.  You can find inmate population statistics in a number of publications from our library from the 1970s to the present. Search the keyword terms “corrections and population” in our library’s web catalog to find older information.  For current statistics, see the Department of Corrections’ Departmental Reports and Statistics webpage.