A record seven million people were in U.S. prisons, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to new Justice Department figures. The figures mean around one in every 32 people living in the United States is caught up in the justice system. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to a report released Wednesday. More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are rising at a faster rate. The numbers are from the annual report from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report breaks down inmate populations for state and federal prisons and local jails.
