Seventh-highest overall rate, third-highest female rate point to need for serious action from state lawmakers
LOUISVILLE, KY — New data from the federal agency charged with tracking criminal justice statistics around the nation again highlights Kentucky’s grim per capita imprisonment rate. For the second year in a row, Kentucky had the seventh-highest ranking in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics Prisoners in 2019 annual report released on Oct. 22, 2020. The Commonwealth’s rate declined by 1.5%, compared to a decline of 2.3% nationally.