SAN FRANCISCO — More than half of all people sent to federal prison for committing felony crimes so far this year were Latino, a major demographic shift swollen by immigration offenses, according to a government report released Tuesday.
Latinos already outnumber all other ethnic groups sentenced to serve time in prison for federal felonies.
Latinos reached a new milestone for the first time this year, making up the majority all federal felony offenders sentenced in the first nine months of fiscal 2011, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Latinos made up 50.3 percent of all people sentenced in that time period, blacks 19.7 percent and whites 26.4 percent.
Latinos last year made up 16 percent of the U.S. population.
The commission’s statistics also reveal that sentences for felony immigration crimes — which include illegal crossing and other crimes such as immigrant smuggling — were responsible for most of the increase in the number of Latinos sent to prison over the past decade.
