A tally conducted in mid-2009 found that 767,620 inmates were in jails, down 17,936 or 2.3 percent from a year earlier.
The jail report came just a week after the FBI released statistics showing a significant drop in violent crime in American cities.
But that may be just part of the story behind the decline. Officials interviewed by The Associated Press suggested that cash-strapped localities are doing more to keep chronically homeless and mentally ill people out of jail. And in some states, judges may be imposing more sentences that are longer than a year, which sends an inmate to a state or federal prison.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
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