Among cities with at least 20,000 people, Compton in Los Angeles County had the highest rate of incarceration, with 979 people incarcerated per 100,000 residents. It also has a higher Black and Latino population than the state average, which the report’s authors say mirrors a national trend.
“This suggests that policing, arrests and incarceration are disproportionately concentrated in a handful of Black communities across the county, such as Compton with its large Black population,” wrote the report’s authors, Emily Widra and Felicia Gomez.
One census tract in Kern County stands out. Just east of downtown Bakersfield, the 1-square-mile tract had 2,944 residents and 74 people in state prisons, or more than two out of every 100 people.
Kern County also leads the state in homicide rate, a statistic the county’s residents and law enforcement struggle to explain. For the sixth consecutive year, the county led the state with a homicide rate of 13.7 homicides per 100,000 people. The statewide average is six homicides per 100,000.
“Some of the smaller rural counties often are overlooked but actually have some of the highest incarceration rates in the entire state,” Wessler said. “A lot of these rural areas are also facing significant economic challenges.”
You don’t have to remind Bowman, of the Shasta County STEP-UP program for those recently released from incarceration. First, in 2018, the Carr Fire displaced thousands of people in an area that was already struggling to control housing costs. Then, during the pandemic, wealthier residents of the Bay Area and Sacramento Valley started moving north, pushing up rents and home values. People already on the economic fringe were pushed to its edge.
“Because now, landlords could charge whatever they want and there’s no reason for them to open up their homes” to affordable housing programs, Bowman said. “They can get someone who is displaced while their home’s being rebuilt (and) they can get a higher rent from that individual or family. So that’s a huge issue.”
He is, however, ultimately optimistic.
“I think that there are a lot of good people that are trying to do the very best they can,” Bowman said. “It just takes time for the numbers to come down.”