A cognitive disability—defined as serious difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions—was the most common disability reported by prison and jail inmates. An estimated 19 percent of prisoners and 31 percent of jail inmates reported having a cognitive disability. An ambulatory disability was the second most common reported disability, with 10 percent of each population reporting difficulty walking or climbing stairs.
Prisoners were about three times more likely and jail inmates were about four times more likely than the general population (standardized to match the prison and jail populations by sex, age, race, and Hispanic origin) to report a disability. Compared to the general population, prisoners were about four times more likely and jail inmates were about 6.5 times more likely to report a cognitive disability.