( CNN ) -- A record number of Americans served time in corrections systems across the country in 2007 , according to a report released Monday by the Pew Center on the States . Some of the nation 's most high-profile federal inmates are housed at the Supermax prison in Colorado . The U.S. correctional population -- those in jail , prison , on probation or on parole -- totaled 7.3 million , or 1 in every 31 adults . The Pew Center on the States compiled the information from Justice Department and Census Bureau statistics . America 's prison population has skyrocketed over the past quarter century . In 1982 , 1 in 77 adults were in the correctional system in one form or another , totaling 2.2 million people . The United States has 5 percent of the world 's population , but 25 percent of the world 's prison inmates , the center said . The numbers vary widely by race and gender . `` Black adults are four times as likely as whites and nearly 2.5 times as likely as Hispanics to be under correctional control . One in 11 black adults -- 9.2 percent -- was under correctional supervision at year-end 2007 , '' the report said . `` And although the number of female offenders continues to grow , men of all races are under correctional control at a rate five times that of women . '' There are also wide differences depending on the state . Georgia tops the nation , with 1 in 13 adults in the state 's corrections system , while in New Hampshire the figure is 1 in 88 . Southern states tended to have higher rates , with Plains and rural Northeastern states coming in lower . `` State policy choices are responsible for creating this mess and state policy choices can get us out , '' said Adam Gelb , director of the Public Safety Performance Project for the Pew Center on the States . `` There are two things , and two things only that determine the size and cost of the prison system . '' Dealing out longer sentences and putting more people behind bars have been the hallmarks of Southern states , he said . America 's record prison population has had a huge budgetary effect , according to the report , with increased corrections spending outstripping everything at the state level except for Medicaid . Gelb said prison costs 22 times more than community-based corrections . `` If you talk to judges and prosecutors practically anywhere in this country , they will tell you if they had stronger community corrections , they would n't have to send so many people [ to prison ] for so many low-level offenses , '' he said . For California , it has meant overcrowded prisons . In February , federal judges tentatively ruled that California must reduce the number of inmates in its prison system by up to 40 percent to stop a constitutional violation of prisoners ' rights . Implementing the court 's ruling would result in up to 58,000 prisoners being released , said Matthew Cate , California 's corrections and rehabilitation secretary , describing it as a threat to public safety . The Pew Center on the States , through its Public Safety Performance Project , says it promotes `` fiscally sound , data-driven policies and practices in sentencing and corrections that protect public safety , hold offenders accountable , and control corrections costs . ''
NEW : Director : Weak community corrections programs force judges to choose jail . Record 7.3 million people were in jail , prison or on probation or parole in 2007 . That 's one in every 31 people in the U.S. , Pew Center on States found . Blacks four times more likely than whites to be in corrections system , study showed .