Inmate Population In The US: 20 Jail Systems Receive MacArthur Foundation Grants To Release Offenders Inmate Population In The US: 20 Jail Systems Receive MacArthur Foundation Grants To Release Offenders MacArthur Foundation this week announced it planned to give 20 jail systems of varied sizes $150,000 each to develop new strategies for who is jailed and who is offered alternatives.

The foundation’s president said the grants are the first step in the Chicago-based charity’s plan to spend $75 million over five years to bring about reforms in the jails. Many county jail systems are pre-trial detention centers, where those who are too poor to afford bail can be kept for months awaiting for their cases to be resolved.

The foundation has asked the selected jail systems to work with experts, judges, prosecutors, court administrators, police and corrections officials to design plans that make their systems run more efficiently, Stasch told the Associated Press. Out of the 20 jail systems, half will be picked next year for a second round of funding ranging from $500,000 to $2 million to implement the plans.

MacArthur’s list of jails includes systems in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia as well as New Orleans, Louisiana, which has the nation’s highest rate of incarceration.