The number of people on probation and parole jumped last year in the District, Maryland and Virginia, in contrast to a decline nationwide — but local prison populations dropped, bucking a nationwide increase.
The number of people under correctional supervision nationwide dropped 0.7 percent in 2009 compared to 2008, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics data released Tuesday, the first overall decline since the agency began reporting the data in 1980. The probation population dropped 0.9 percent, the parole population declined 0.7 percent and the prison populuation rose 0.2 percent.
But locally, those trends were reversed.
D.C’s parole population rose 9.6 percent and the number of people on probation jumped 16.2 percent, the largest increase in the country. Because D.C. prisoners are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, BJS did not separately report the District’s prison population.
Virginia’s parole population rose 3 percent and the number of adults on probation increased 3.8 percent, while prison population dropped 0.5 percent.
In Maryland, the number of people on parole increased 3.9 percent, and the probation population rose 3.5 percent. But the number of incarcerated adults declined 4.6 percent, the third-largest drop in the country.
