LD D1 NEWS PIM RAHWAY VANHEMMEN

A corrections officer stands guard at East Jersey State Prison in Rahway in this 1994 photo. (Pim Van Hemmen | Star-Ledger)

WASHINGTON -- The number of people behind bars in New Jersey declined by a greater percentage than all but five other states from 2014 to 2015, newly released U.S. Justice Department statistics show.

The Garden State had 20,489 prisoners at the end of 2015, down from 21,590 from a year earlier, according to a report released Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

That's a decrease of 5.1 percent. Only Vermont, Alaska, Utah, Mississippi and Indiana showed a greater decline. The national drop for state prison populations was 1.6 percent.

New Jersey also was one of only six states whose prison population shrunk by more than 1,000 prisoners between 2014 and 2015. The others were California, Texas, Indiana, Louisiana and Florida.

There were 19,581 male and 908 female prisoners in New Jersey at the end of 2015. The male population dropped 4.8 percent from 2014 and the female population declined by 10.9 percent.

Including federal prisoners, the number of those behind bars at the end of 2015 was 1,526,792. That was the smallest number since 2005 when there were 1,525,900 inmates, and a drop of 2.3 percent from 1,562,319 in 2014.

Gov. Chris Christie and New Jersey state legislators have sought alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders, especially those involved in drugs. For example, the state has set up drug courts in all 21 counties that send individuals to treatment programs rather than prison.

There also is a "ban the box" law that prevents prospective New Jersey employers from immediately asking for an applicant's criminal record and efforts by the state Department of Corrections and Parole Board to prevent those released from prison from returning.

"The reductions cited in this report are the result of those and other public safety initiatives," state Corrections Commissioner Gary M. Lanigan said.

In addition, Camden and Hudson counties in June joined 65 other counties, municipalities and states in a federal program that uses data to discover and replicate programs that have been proven to reduce the number of people behind bars.

President Barack Obama, who with U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) unsuccessfully sought to overhaul federal criminal justice laws, has been commuting sentences of those imprisoned for illegal drugs.

In the final weeks of his presidency, he has granted 1,176 commutations and 78 pardons. No other recent president has come close; next was President Lyndon Johnson with just over 200 commuted sentences.

Obama traveled to Newark, the city Booker formerly led as mayor, in November 2015 to highlight efforts to provide education, training and employment to former prisoners.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.