WASHINGTON — More than two-thirds of Utah's adult prison population is white, in contrast to a new Census Bureau report that shows nationally, only about 46 percent was white in 2006.

Nationally, more than three times as many black people live in prison cells than in college dorms, according to the census report being released today.

The ratio is only slightly better for Hispanics, at 2.7 inmates for every Latino in college housing. Among non-Hispanic whites, more than twice as many live in college housing as in prison or jail.

In Utah, state data show that there were 12,800 minority students enrolled in the Utah System of Higher Education last year. That's nearly double the roughly 6,500 inmates currently in the state prison system, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.

Still, though the data are not directly comparable, minorities are overrepresented in the state prison, comprising about 31 percent of state inmates, according to the Department of Corrections. Some 16.5 percent of the state inmates are Hispanic and 7.5 percent are black, according to corrections officials.

Minorities, meanwhile, comprised about 17 percent of Utah's population in 2006, according to census estimates. Last year, minorities comprised only about 9 percent of the state's college and university students.

Unlike the state numbers, the census numbers do not include college students who live off campus. Previously released census data show that black and Hispanic college students — commuters and those in dorms — far outnumber black and Hispanic prison inmates.

Nevertheless, civil rights advocates said it is startling that blacks and Hispanics are more likely to live in prison cells than in college dorms.

"It's one of the great social and economic tragedies of our time," said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the Urban League. "It points to the signature failure in our education system and how we've been raising our children."

The overrepresentation of minorities, particularly blacks and Hispanics, is nothing new, said Russell Van Vleet, sociology professor at the University of Utah. "It's just a matter of trying to understand it."

The explanation isn't as simple as minorities committing more crimes, he said. Studies have shown that minorities often receive harsher penalties than white defendants for similar crimes. And, he said, it could come down to class. He pointed to juvenile courts, which sometimes place poor minority children into the system so they can access services available there.