Imprisonment is an indicator that can reflect inadequate access to social support and public services. Inability to access human services exacerbates the underlying issues that contribute to involvement in criminal behavior and limits opportunities for individuals to receive support, treatment and resources necessary for positive outcomes. Human services often provide crucial social support networks that can help vulnerable individuals navigate challenging life circumstances. Increasing access to human service systems, such as assistance for at-risk families, youth mentorship, educational- and work-training opportunities, and mental health services, can help address these root causes and reduce reliance on incarceration as a solution to social problems.
The rate of incarcerated individuals in Washington State prisons per 100,000 residents by census tract is based on each incarcerated person's last known address, available through the Prison Policy Initiative. This indicator provides insight into which communities are most impacted by incarceration and where additional investment in public services could reduce disparities.
Historical data are not available for this indicator. This dataset first became available in 2020 due to a change in Washington State law requiring the Dept. of Corrections to report last known addresses for people incarcerated in state prisons during the 2020 Decennial Census. At this time, 2020 is the only year available and it is unclear if this data will be available again after the 2030 Decennial Census.
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Imprisonment Map
Rate per 100,000 residents
Source(s): Prison Policy Initiative, Number of People in Prison in 2020 from Each Washington Census Tract; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles
* Note: The color ramp uses log scale to accommodate a wide range of values.
Insights & Analysis
- The four census tracts with the highest average imprisonment rates all include large facilities such as jails or Harborview Medical Center, which may indicate that these places were used as last known addresses for some incarcerated individuals.
- The census tracts with the highest imprisonment rate are Downtown Tacoma, Pierce County (8,006 per 100,000); Yesler Terrace area of Seattle, King County (5,127); Port of Tacoma area, Pierce County (4,624); Downtown Everett, Snohomish County (3,608).
- Pierce County has the highest average imprisonment rate (285 per 100,000), followed by Kitsap (231), Snohomish (158), and King (139).
- There are 99 census tracts with an imprisonment rate of zero in the region. For Pierce County, 3% of census tracts (6) have a rate of zero for imprisonment, followed by Kitsap with 5% (3), Snohomish with 6% (10), and then King with 16% (80).
- Of the region's census tracts, 30% are above the region’s average imprisonment rate.
Imprisonment Now
Source(s): Prison Policy Initiative, Number of People in Prison in 2020 from Each Washington Census Tract; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016-2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Tables B02001, C17002, B22010, B11005, B11007, C16002
Note 1: Horizontal axis (low, medium, high) denotes concentrations of each community. See, "How is equity measured?" for more information.
Note 2: For Households with Limited English Proficiency, the low and low medium categories have the same value in Kitsap and Pierce counties. There are more census tracts in those places estimated to have 0 households with limited English proficiency than the number of tracts in the low quintile category. The values for the low and low medium categories were averaged.
Insights & Analysis
- Communities with high concentrations of households with lower income or people with disabilities are most disproportionately impacted by imprisonment.
- Pierce County has the largest imprisonment rate (713 per 100,000) for communities with high concentrations of households with lower income, followed by Kitsap (493), Snohomish (321), and King (267). The average rate for high concentration of households with lower income across the Region is 383.
- The largest imprisonment rate for communities with high concentrations of people with disabilities is in Pierce County (452), followed by Snohomish (318), Kitsap (312), and King (221). The average rate for high concentration of people with disabilities across the Region is 326.
- As a region, communities with high concentrations of people with disabilities have five times larger imprisonment rate than those with low concentrations.
- Pierce County has approximately twice the imprisonment rate as the region for communities with high concentrations of people of color or households with lower income.