The Crime and Justice Institute presented a report Wednesday that says Nevada's imprisonment rate is 15 percent higher than the national average and growing.
The Nevada Appeal reports that Institute analyst Alison Silveira told the Commission on the Administration of Justice that Nevada incarcerates 468 people per 100,000 residents compared with the national average of 406 in other states. She said prison admissions have increased 6 percent in the past decade.
And, although women make up less than 10 percent of the inmate population, she said the female prison population has increased 39 percent in the past 10 years.
Per capita, she said that means Nevada has a female prison population 43 percent higher than the national average.
She said slightly more than half of them have been identified as having mental health issues. In addition, more than half of the female inmates have no prior felony record and nearly 80 percent are for non-person, non-violent offenses.
According to the institute's 100-page report, the growth is primarily in the south and, specifically, Clark County.
The data shows the numbers of newly sentenced inmates actually declined over the past decade in eight Northern Nevada counties. There were double-digit decreases in Storey, Eureka, Douglas, Pershing and Elko counties.