The Increasing Prison Population The care and feeding of one million American prisoners is a big business. Privately managed prison beds are increasing about 35 percent a year, and the demographics of inmates are changing rapidly. More prisoners are women or elderly, and have drug problems, AIDS, or other chronic health conditions. The number of prisoners seems certain to increase--but even if it doesn't, the cost of running prisons will. Prisons are often referred to as "the big house," but "full house" may be a better term. In 1994, 1 million people lived in America's federal and state prisons. Another 3.7 million were on probation or parole