| A Demographic Profile of Texas Prison Inmates, 1975 and 2002 |
| |
1975 |
2002 |
| |
Number |
Percent |
Number |
Percent |
| Ethnicity |
| Black |
8,494 |
44.9% |
51,649 |
41.3% |
| White |
7,141 |
37.7% |
38,396 |
30.7% |
| Latino |
3,287 |
17.4% |
35,028 |
28.0% |
| Gender |
| Male |
18,229 |
96.3% |
118,744 |
94.5% |
| Female |
706 |
3.7% |
6,911 |
5.5% |
| Age |
| ≤ 25 |
8,665 |
45.9% |
18,663 |
14.9% |
| 26-34 |
6,012 |
31.8% |
40,846 |
32.5% |
| 35-49 |
3,365 |
17.8% |
52,977 |
42.2% |
| ≥ 50 |
851 |
4.5% |
13,169 |
10.5% |
| IQ* |
| 0-80 |
2,609 |
15.9% |
27,634 |
22.5% |
| 81-109 |
11,230 |
68.6% |
83,617 |
67.9% |
| ≥ 110 |
2,535 |
15.5% |
11,833 |
9.6% |
| Prior Residence |
| Houston |
4,101 |
21.7% |
26,589 |
21.2% |
| Dallas/Fort Worth |
5,523 |
29.2% |
28,680 |
22.8% |
| San Antonio |
1,369 |
7.2% |
7,605 |
6.1% |
| Beaumont |
624 |
3.3% |
2,220 |
1.8% |
| Austin |
568 |
3.0% |
4,081 |
3.2% |
| Other cities (Texas) |
3,626 |
19.1% |
21,264 |
16.9% |
| Other counties (Texas) |
3,124 |
16.5% |
35,216 |
28.0% |
| Total Inmates |
18,955 |
|
125,655 |
|
|
 |
In 1975, the typical Texas prison inmate was a young, urban
minority male below average in intelligence. For the most part that is
the picture of today's inmate too. Minorities continue to make up a
large majority of the prison population, far more than their share of
the total population, as we saw previously. Overwhelmingly, too, Texas
prisons house men, but today aging men. In 1975 more than
three-quarters were under 35 years of age. Today the majority is over
35. Inmate IQ scores in 1975 were below average (average is
approximately 100) and appear to have declined somewhat since then.
Finally, the majority of inmates today still come from the state's major
metropolitan areas, though the percentages from smaller Texas cities and
more rural Texas counties have grown significantly since 1975. The most
striking change in Texas prison inmates, though, is locked in the
mushrooming prison population itself. In 1975, about 150 of every
100,000 Texans was in a state prison facility. By 2002, more than 579
of every 100,000 Texans was imprisoned by the state. And that's not
counting tens of thousands of prisoners (as of 2002) housed in private
prisons and state, county, and municipal jails. |
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