LA Times: "Report: More than 1 in every 100 Americans now behind bars"

[El Pinko]

VISITING ROOM: L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Jack McClive peers through safety glass, while standing in the visiting room, during a tour of the Sybil Brand Institute Women's Jail in Monterey Park.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-prisons29feb29,0,5355881.story


Report: More than 1 in every 100 Americans now behind bars


11:07 AM PST, February 28, 2008
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 and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.

The report, released today 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.

The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," said the report.




Oh, what a wonderful job you're doing, Dumbya! Just think of all the wonderfull things all those millions of people are learning in the big house! Getting in shape, learning to make shivs out of plastic knives, thinking of wayt to use their newfound skills on law-abiding citizens once they get out....

This is SO MUCH BETTER than having an economy that creates enough living-wage jobs for all levels of society, not just the top, isn't it?

[jody]

1. There should be more -- all politicians, lobbyists, corporatists. n/t

[reggie the dog]

2. we have 7.9 times less people in jail per 100,000

here in France than you have in the USA. I have American and French nationality, but I could not imagine livng in the USA.

[spanone]

3. that's really unbelievable jeeebus....

[enid602]

4. bars

I wish I was at the bar right now, instead of in this little cubicle.

[Nutmegger]

5. The Prison Industrial Complex is doing very well.

This is the "tough of crime" crap that's coming back to roost. Bet hey let's add more mandatory minimum sentences so Mister Repuke / Dem can get the "security vote".

[Nutmegger]

6. k [n\t]

:kick:

[cornermouse]

7. We can't afford this.

We have got to find another way.