State Prison and Jail Statistics Wyoming State Law and Prison Labor:

April 2017 State law allows for prisoners in both

local prisons and state prisons to do
labor under Title 7, Chapter 16.
Wyoming is not immune from the national trend of rising prison and jail populations;
but this is a trend we cannot continue to follow if we are going to solve the issues of According to state law, inmates can –
mass incarceration and racial justice in the Equality State. and do – perform labor to profit the
state of Wyoming under the Wyoming

STATE PRISON STATISTICS Correctional Industries Program.

% of Wyoming Inmates - % of Under this program, inmates receive

Population - Legislative Prison wages “at a rate which is not less than
US Census Service Population that paid for work of a similar nature
2015 Office, 31 (out of 2051
in the locality in which the work is
Estimates 1 Dec. 2016 2 inmates)
performed.” However, inmates do
Asian 1.0% 7 0.34% not keep most of that money.
Black 1.4% 113 5.51%
Hispanic 9.9% 252 12.29% Fifteen percent of the wages earned
Middle Eastern* 13 0.63% by each inmate are put into a “savings
Native American 2.7% 127 6.19% account,” which maxes out at $2,500.
Pacific Islander 0.1% 4 0.20% The inmate can only access that
Unknown* 1 0.05% money when they are released from
White 84.0% 1534 74.79% prison.
* The Wyoming Department of Corrections tracks this data, while the US Census does not.
Wages earned beyond the $2,500 are

LOCAL JAIL STATISTICS then split: 20% goes to the inmate,

taxes are paid, 15% goes into a “crime
% of Inmates - % of Local victim’s compensation fund,” and the
Wyoming US Dept of Jail rest goes back to the state to “pay for
Population - Justice Population the cost of incarceration.”
US Census 2013 3 (out of 1460
2015 Est. 1 inmates)
In other words, inmates in
Asian/Pacific 1.1% 10 0.68%
Wyoming are paid a fraction of
Islander
Black 1.4% 330 22.60% the wages they earn from their
Hispanic 9.9% 100 6.85% own labor, and the rest of the
Native American 2.7% 130 8.90% wages go back to the state to
White 84.0% 890 60.96% pay for the prison industrial
complex itself.
o Black people make up only 1.4% of the state’s population, but over 5.5% of
the state prison population and over 22% of the state’s local jail population. Products made by inmates are sold
o Native Americans are also incarcerated at significantly higher rates than through the “Wyoming Brand
their white counterparts; while making up 2.7% of the state’s population, Industries” division of the
they are over 6% of the people in state prisons and 8% of local jails. Department of Corrections. They
1 manufacture everything from police
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045216/56
uniforms to “Wyoming made” trinkets
2
https://legisweb.state.wy.us/LSOResearch/2017/17FS005.pdf and mementos tourists purchase at
3
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cjpc9913.pdf various shops around the state.