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Georgia's High Number of Inmates

Ric Feld
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Associated Press

New Mexico and Georgia — two states with some of the nation's largest percentages of minority residents in the United States — had the nation's highest rates of inmates in county jails, according to a report made public Wednesday by a non-partisan criminal justice reform group.

The study by the Massachusetts-based Prison Policy Initiative that lobbies for reducing U.S. jail and prison populations showed that New Mexico had a jail incarceration rate of 340.8 per 100,000 residents in 2013 — the latest year of federal data tracking all local jail populations. Georgia had the second highest rate that year with 317.3 per 100,000 residents.

The study found that pre-trail detentions tripled jail population growth nationwide over since 1978, said Joshua Aiken, the report's author. He blamed most of the increase on inmates too poor to post bail after their arrests on minor infractions.

New Mexico has the largest percentage of Hispanic residents in the United States at 48 percent. Around 31 percent of Georgia residents are black — one of the highest percentages in the country.

New Mexico's largest county, which includes Albuquerque, has instituted reforms to reduce its jail population that helped decrease it 48 percent from 2013 to 2017, according to data from Bernalillo County's Metropolitan Detention Center.

Credit Heather Clark / Associated Press
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Associated Press
FILE Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center

In 2015, American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed a federal lawsuit against DeKalb County on behalf of a black teenager who was jailed because he could not afford to pay court fines and probation company fees stemming from a traffic ticket.

DeKalb County agreed in a settlement to changes for people who could not afford to pay fine and fee payments, including training for court staff and instructions for judges aimed at prompting them to avoid sending people to jail who owe court fines but cannot pay.

The Prison Policy Initiative recommended that states turn misdemeanor charges that do not threaten public safety into "non-jailable" infractions and to offer treatment programs instead of jail for low-level offenders struggling with drug addiction or mental illness.