Share of American population in prison is lowest in 20 years

Data: Prison Policy Initiative, Brookings Institute; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Following decades of a rapidly growing prison population, the percentage of Americans in prison is the lowest it has been in more than 20 years. Still, the U.S. incarcerates people at a higher rate than any other country — 655 people for every 100,000 of the population.

The latest: This comes as many cities and states have enacted various criminal justice reform measures to combat mass incarceration. Even Congress passed a bill that eased certain sentencing guidelines and instituted new rehabilitation programs in federal prisons.

Go deeper:

• Special report: Profiting from prison
• The war on drugs anchors prison profits
• The U.S. incarceration rate fell more than 10% in the past decade