US Prison Population Largest in the World Increases to 2.3 Million

[callady]

American Police State

Reuters reports that America is nothing remotely comparable to a limited constitutional republic:
"The U.S. prison population, already the largest in the world, grew by 1.9 percent in 2004, leaving federal jails at 40 percent over capacity, according to Justice Department figures released on Sunday.

Inmates in federal, state, local and other prisons totaled nearly 2.3 million at the end of last year, the government said. The 1.9 percent increase was lower than the average annual growth rate of 3.2 percent during the last decade.

According to the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College in London, there are more people behind bars in the United States than in any other country.

China had the second-largest prison population with 1.5 million prisoners, according to statistics updated in April and cited by King's College. The total U.S. population is about 296 million, while China's is 1.3 billion."

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/index.php?id=P2459

[Hubert Flottz]

1. Get ready to add a few more from the GOP this week...

The GOPers want the free labor that they extract from prisoners. They got that game plan from studying... NAZI 101

[SpiralHawk]

2. Profit-making prisons are good for Republicans

And what is good for Republicans, is good for all Elite Americans.

So do the patriotic thing, and pay no attention to this. Just shut up and sit down.

Big BushCo loves you.

[rodeodance]

3. we do not take care of drug addtions, poverty, etc-just toss in jail.

[Union Thug]

10. spot on!

[Tsiyu]

4. We live in a Third World country

The defining factor: The ruling elite make billions off the suffering of others.

This is a national disgrace, but just wait until all these folks get jailed for not paying their bills.

Nazi Germany: we aren't aiming to BE you. We ARE you!

[no_hypocrisy]

5. 2.3 million more voters taken off the rolls. Probably wouldn't have

voted the republican line.

[leesa]

6. Is this the next GOP talking point? They can't be indicted because there

is no more room in prison?

So many of these prisoners are non-violent drug offenders too. Our society is really screwed up!

[Hubert Flottz]

11. Hey... too many of our guys have played along too.

Afraid of looking "Soft On Crime." More "going along to get along"...or going along to get elected! What the people want, or need, matters not to our misleaders, once they arrive in Washington.

The GOPers have now even taken government contracts away from legitimate businesses and awarded them to the "private contractors", who run most of the prisons. Since the GOP controls all three branches of the government, no holds are barred. The GOP doesn't care at all, about costing America even more production jobs and causing more unemployment. It's a racket! IG Farben would be proud of our "efficient" PRIVATE prison system under Bushco.

The RICO act be damned. Racketeering(plundering and pillaging)is fine and dandy, as long as the government in-crowd does it.

[SheilaT]

7. We're Number One!!

Isn't that great? Can't let countries like India or China beat us out in this important area, even if they do have populations triple ours.

So we must be living in the safest country in the world, right? because we lock up everyone who poses any kind of potential danger. I'm so proud.

[Silverhair]

8. Too many of those are for non-violent victimless crimes.

Drug use, prostitution, "honest gambling" (By that I mean gambling that is illegal but the game was straight.)should not be in prison. In fact, their acts should be legal.

But the crimes with real victims, and the violent crimes - no sympathy.

[Union Thug]

9. More coming...with the Gonzales/FBI porn raids...

heroically protecting 'Merca from the pee-pee fetishists.

And the continued war on possessors of the devil-plant marijuana!

[lateo]

12. "Land of the free"

Yeah...

[Hubert Flottz]

13. The powers that be will put someone in jail for stealing food.

Yet, Kenneth Lay stole millions of dollars from some of the most defenseless people in America, the pensioners and Kenny Boy hasn't done a DAY!

Today in America, justice is for sale to the highest bidder and that by a long shot, is not what the founders intended.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Some prison population rates per 100,000 national population

USA: 796 (highest in world)
Russia: 564 (2nd in world)
Poland: 217
Mexico: 191
Brazil: 183
England & Wales: 145
Spain: 141
China: 118
Canada: 116
Germany: 97
Italy: 97
France: 88
Iraq: 60*
Japan: 60
India: 31

* = estimate: c.15,000 at April 2004 (of which c.7000 'criminals' were in the custody of the Ministry of Justice and 8,080 prisoners regarded as security threats were being held by the United States authorities)

Source: International Centre for Prison Studies

[callady]

15. Staggering numbers

I found the per capita comparison between the US and China to be particularly revealing. US has 7 times more prisoners per capita than China.

here's more on privatization of prisons which we are all too familiar with:

In These Times undercover report: exposing privatization of the prison system

Going undercover, In These Times contributor Silja J.A. Talvi exposes the behind-the-scenes business of today’s $50 billion a year for-profit prison industry, reporting on the tangled web of private-public partnerships that are “Cashing in on Cons.”

“Taking advantage of the unprecedented prison boom of the ’80s and ‘90s, prison administrators, politicians, lobbying firms and corporate boards created a prison-industrial complex in which everyone benefits except the prisoners,” Talvi writes.

The Latest Trend in Corrections

Talvi attended the American Correctional Association’s (ACA) 2005 Winter Conference, where 4,000 top prison decision-makers, consultants and employees gathered to share the latest products, prisoner maintenance techniques, personnel opportunities and private contractor jobs available in Iraqi prisons.

Financially supported by private prison corporations, the conference featured workshops such as “Anti-Terrorism in Correctional Facilities,” “Can’t Simply Paint it Pink and Call it a Girl’s Program” and “Intensive Medical Management: How to Handle Prisoners Who Self-Mutilate, Slime, Starve, Spit and Scratch.” The latter featured footage of a non-violent schizophrenic being forcibly extracted from his cell and strapped naked in a restraint chair, 16 hours after which he died.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/about/press_ind/in_these_times_undercover_report_exposing_privatization_of_the_prison_syste/