The typical inmate in prison in the United States is male, from a minority group, is a drug addict or mentally ill, poor and probably had a difficult/abusive upbringing or comes from a dysfunctional family background.
<em>Male inmates</em> make up 90% of the total jail population, but the female jail population has grown at a faster pace then the male in the recent years. African Americans are the largest ethnic group in jails, followed by Whites, Hispanics and other races.
Over the half of jail inmates await court action on their current charges, the rest is serving their sentence.The percentage of inmates in private jails is small, about 2,3 % but nevertheless growing all the time.
Almost 10,000 inmates a year are under eighteen , 90% of them convicted.
