Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 | 2:05 a.m.
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Nevada ranks 15th among states with the highest incarceration rate, with 470 prison inmates for every 100,000 residents, a report says.
The report by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation is based on 2009 data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Of the states surrounding Nevada, Arizona had the highest rate at 580 per 100,000 people, putting it at No. 6 on the list, and Utah was the lowest at 232 and ranked No. 44. California had a rate of 458, Idaho 476 and Oregon 373.
According to the report, the number of inmates in Nevada’s prisons climbed from 10,063 at the end of 2000 to 12,482 at the close of 2009, an increase of 24 percent.
Louisiana tops the list with 881 prisoners per 100,000 residents. Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama and Texas round out the top five.
Maine is at the bottom of the list with 150 prisoners per 100,000 residents, followed by Minnesota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
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