Astonishing New Report: 1 In Every 100 Americans Is In Jail
For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population.
The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.
Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008—one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world.
By contrast, in mid 2002 the ratio was 1 in 142, with the prison population surpassing 2 million for the first time.
The report goes on to say:
The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails—a total 2,319,258 out of almost 230 million American adults.
The report said the United States is the world’s incarceration leader, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which make up the rest of the Top 10.
So….we put more of our people behind bars than China ? More than Russia, or the other states of the former Soviet Union?
There has to be a better way. And one way I would suggest is to re-think our “war on drugs”. I personally think that the way we approach our attempts at controlling illegal substances is doing far more harm than good, both financially and in terms of the misery inflicted. And I’d bet that a substantial percentage of those in jail right now are there for relatively minor drug offenses.
Agree with me or not - those numbers clearly show that this current system of “book ‘em Dan-o” ain’t working.
And before the oh-so-you-think-we-should-just-go-ahead-and-legalize-heroin-or-cocaine crowd gets started…..no, I don’t.
But there has to be a better way. Just look at the numbers.
