Missouri's prison population shows decline

JEFFERSON CITY — A new Justice Department report shows Missouri was the only state to see consistently declining prison populations over an 18-month period.

The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics examined state prison populations on a six-month basis.

The bureau’s report shows that Missouri’s inmate count declined during both the first and second half of 2006, as well as the first half of 2007.

Missouri was the only state to show inmate reductions in each of those three periods. Neighboring Kansas also showed reductions in the first two periods and only a modest increase in the third.

The report examines data only through June 2007.

Since then, Missouri’s prisoner population has risen slightly.