AMERICA BEHIND BARS Welcome to the United States of America; home of the brave, land of the free. Well not completely free. Matter of fact America has the highest prison population rate in the world, some 738 per 100,000 of the national population, topping out over countries like Russia and China. During 2007, the prison population increased more rapidly than the U.S. resident population. To put this in perspective, take Germany’s prison population: 93 people for every 100 adults are behind bars. In the U.S, the rate is roughly eight times that. There is constant talk about the over crowding of prisons nation wide where the prison system in our country is operating at 32 percent over rated capacity. The state of California built 21 new prisons and only one new university over the last two decades. They also spent 8.8 billion dollars on corrections for the year 2007. With a total of 42.9 billion dollars spent on corrections nation wide; compare that to the 24.7 billion spent on public assistance (social welfare i.e. food stamps, medical assistance etc.). There is clearly an issue on our hands. With increases of correctional control rates in a majority of states; if these rates continue to grow, these conditions could potentially jeopardize public safety. So why
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is our nation facing this problem? Is violent crimes really so abundant? Well, actually no, they only account up to about 40 to 50 percent of the prison population. So why are the other 50 percent behind bars? Simply put; drugs. In Federal prisons 55 percent of inmates are drug offenders serving an average sentence length of three and a half years. This is critical in addressing the prison population crisis. First, regardless on your stance on drugs, these offenders spend over three years behind bars, which ends up a very costly stay.Who pays? You, of course, the great American tax payer. When these offenders get done serving their three years behind bars full of drug addicts, murderers. rapists do you think they are going to come back into society as perfect little angels? Actually its a fact that 1 in every for non violent offender serving time will come back for a violent crime. Our Nations Correctional Control has many problems that Americans need to be aware of.We need to resolve these matters in a timely fashion before the problem gets out of our control. Below are statistics by state that break down how great our prison population rate is, and shouldn’t be.
77
227m 5,306 / 4.7
WA
Alabama
Alaska
ARIZONA
ARKANSAS
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO
CONNECTICUT
1 in 32 seven percent women
1 in 36 twelve percent women
1 in 33 nine percent women
1 in 29 seven percent women
1 in 36 seven percent women
1 in 29 ten percent women
1 in 32 seven percent women
55
ID
56
MT
81
ND
24
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
HAWAII
IDAHO
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
1 in 31 seven percent women
1 in 13 seven percent women
1 in 32 thirteen percent women
1 in 18 eleven percent women
1 in 38 six percent women
1 in 26 nine percent women
73
MI
55m 1,440 / 5.6
438m 9,573 / 5.1
890m 22,690 / 3.2*
2.06b 50,326 /2.4*
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IL
IN
1.06
43
23
41
38
51
ME
1.19
142m 3,431 / 3.9*
40
49
122m 2,144 / 1.1
OH
69
NY
73
VT
1.37
NH
73
684m 13,855 / 1.1
222m 13,552 / 5
82m 2,053 / 2.9*
74m 3,302 / 1.7*
313m 9,419 / 6.1
1.12b 45,305 / 0.4
649m 26,249 / 0.6
1.76b 50,730 / 3.2
2.62b 62,620 / 1.1*
111m 2,132 / 3.7
92m 2,991 / 6.6
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
PA
NJ
CT
MA
31
41
78
28
67
35
36
81
67
1.03
324m 6,533 / 1.6
599m 22,841 / 1.6
172m 4,472 / 1.5
586m 30,324 / 0.5
454m 22,402 / 12
171m 6,056 / 5.6
1.64b 46,028 / 3.7
1.47b 26,822 / 2*
661m 20,784 / 1.1
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
VA
DE
NC
RI
77
31
205m 6,540 / 1.5*
40
31
205m 6,036 / 1.2
46
41
60
1.00
33
314m 14,314 / 4.3
619m 26,838 / 4.2
1.14b 38,555 / 5.1
240m 7,081 / 1.7*
1.08b 38,425 / 2.6
157m 3,807 / 0.7
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
SC
MD
51
46
552m 37,718 / 1.9
TX
30
227m 22,335 / 6
23
388m 29,412 / 4.1*
50
998m 55,205 / 4.6
49
444m 24,217 / 2.5
1.14b 11,364 / 3
74
1.08b 23,342 / 1.7
FL
51
98
83
312m 8,756 / 0.7*
461m 25,918 /1.2*
DELAWARE
WI
179m 7,319 / 2.7
895m 37,800 / 5.3
1 in 26 eight percent women
17
832m 18,126 / 3.2
8.8b 171,444 /2.3*
HI
MN
66
2.72b 97,416 / 4.8
3.3b 171,790 /0.2*
State
IOWA
KANSAS
KENTUCKY
LOUISIANA
MAINE
MARYLAND
MASSACHUSETTS
MICHAGAN
MINNESOTA
1 in 54 nine percent women
1 in 53 seven percent women
1 in 35 eleven percent women
1 in 26 nine percent women
1 in 81 seven percent women
1 in 27 five percent women
1 in 24 seven percent women
1 in 27 four percent women
1 in 26 seven percent women
HI
31
205m 6,036 / 1.2
Amount spent (in cents) compared to one dollar spent on higher education
Total amount spent on corrections Percent increase from last year ( *decrease) Total amount of adults incarcerated
MISSISSIPPI
MISSOURI
MONTANA
NEBRASKA
NEVADA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NEW JERSEY
NEW MEXICO
NEW YORK
1 in 38 nine percent women
1 in 36 eight percent women
1 in 44 nine percent women
1 in 44 nine percent women
1 in 48 eight percent women
1 in 88 nine percent women
1 in 35 five percent women
1 in 35 nine percent women
1 in 53 five percent women
divided by
equals
NORTH CAROLINA
north dakota
ohIo
oklahoma
oregon
pennsylvanIa
rhode Island
south carolIna
south dakota
1 in 38 seven percent women
1 in 63 ten percent women
1 in 25 eight percent women
1 in 42 ten percent women
1 in 33 eight percent women
1 in 28 six percent women
1 in 26 seven percent women
1 in 38 seven percent women
1 in 40 one percent women
1 IN 99 AVERAGE COST OF INMATE PER DAY
tennesse
texas
utah
vermont
vIrgInIa
washIngton
west vIrgInIa
wIsconsIn
wyomIng
1 in 40 eight percent women
1 in 22 eight percent women
1 in 64 nine percent women
1 in 46 seven percent women
1 in 46 eight percent women
1 in 30 eight percent women
1 in 68 ten percent women
1 in 39 six percent women
1 in 38 eleven percent women
$67.55 253,300 inmates for drug offenses
$17,110,415 lowest twenty percent
highest twenty percent
a day to imprison drug users with an average sentence of 3 & 1/2 years