A new study says Latinos now constitute the largest ethnic group in federal prisons. Mark Hugo Lopez of the Pew Hispanic Center says Latinos account for 40 percent of prisoners nationwide.

Mark Hugo Lopez: “Between 1991 and 2007, the share of all sentenced federal offenders who are Hispanic has risen from about 24 percent in 1991 to 40 percent in 2007. So they’ve really almost doubled their share of all sentenced federal offenders. Also, Hispanics represent the single largest group of all sentenced federal offenders. The 40 percent share Hispanic is larger than the white share at 27 percent and the black share at 23 percent in 2007.”

Nearly half of the Latin prison population has been jailed on immigration charges, followed closely by drug charges.