The statistics section of the website of the federal Bureau of Prisons (http://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/) has some interesting statistics.

Some of the more interesting are:

1.  The median (50% of the population) age of federal prisoners is between 36-40 years.

2.  The median sentence is between 5 and 10 years; 13% of the sentences are 20 years or more; 2% are less than one year.

3.  25% of the prisoners are not United States citizens; 18% are citizens of Mexico.

4.  35% are classified as Hispanics.

5.  7% are female.

6.  37% are black.

7.  50% are imprisoned for drug offenses, 11% for immigration offenses, 6-10% for white-collar crimes.

8.  17% are housed at a minimum security level, 40% at a low security level. 

(Hat tip to Mark Allenbaugh.)

 (goldman)