Record-High Ratio Of Americans In Prison

Report Says More Than 1 In Every 100 Americans Now Behind Bars, Urges Policy Changes

(AP)  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 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.

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.

Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said budget woes are prompting officials in many states to consider new, cost-saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the recent past for fear of appearing soft in crime.

"We're seeing more and more states being creative because of tight budgets," she said in an interview. "They want to be tough on crime, they want to be a law-and-order state - but they also want to save money, and they want to be effective."

The report cited Kansas and Texas as states which have acted decisively to slow the growth of their inmate population. Their actions include greater use of community supervision for low-risk offenders and employing sanctions other than reimprisonment for ex-offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation rules.

"The new approach, born of bipartisan leadership, is allowing the two states to ensure they have enough prison beds for violent offenders while helping less dangerous lawbreakers become productive, taxpaying citizens," the report said.

While many state governments have shown bipartisan interest in curbing prison growth, there also are persistent calls to proceed cautiously.

"We need to be smarter," said David Muhlhausen, a criminal justice expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. "We're not incarcerating all the people who commit serious crimes - but we're also probably incarcerating people who don't need to be."

According to the report, the inmate population increased last year in 36 states and the federal prison system.

The largest percentage increase - 12 percent - was in Kentucky, where Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget speech last month. He noted that the state's crime rate had increased only about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state's inmate population has increased by 600 percent.

The Pew report was compiled by the Center on the State's Public Safety Performance Project, which is working directly with 13 states on developing programs to divert offenders from prison without jeopardizing public safety.

"For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn't been a clear and convincing return for public safety," said the project's director, Adam Gelb. "More and more states are beginning to rethink their reliance on prisons for lower-level offenders and finding strategies that are tough on crime without being so tough on taxpayers."

The report said prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime or in the nation's overall population. Instead, it said, more people are behind bars mainly because of tough sentencing measures, such as "three-strikes" laws, that result in longer prison stays.

"For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling," the report said. "While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine."

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.

[inventagod]

Yes, we have become a police state.

The Guantanamo Witch Trials are a sure reminder that we were once a proud and truthful country, but now, hearsay rules the land, and habeas corpus is dead.

buSHAMErica.

[displeased]

We need to employ strict law enforcement to get the production level back down to what the adult grab can consume. And we need to double the penalties against those who sell at schools.
Posted by marcpcbs

Alcohol is illegal to teens yet there is moderate use. Illegal prescription drug use is on the rise amongst teens. If the kids want it, they''ll get it. Creating stricter penalties and putting MORE people in jail will not remove pot from schools. It will have the same effects as the war on drugs, which is basically nothing. Perhaps better parenting and drug education would be a start. In fact, there were parents I knew when I was growing that would care less if their teen smoked pot. Some parents preferred it over alcohol.

[marcpcbs]

gunownerdan

These pot growers have proven that they won''t stop at taking drugs to our kids. We can make all the laws and regs we want but drugs will still be in our schools if we don''t enforce them. To keep drugs out of our schools were going to have to be arresting and imprisoning drug dealers whether pot is legal or not. I don''t know how close you are to the pot world but I can tell you, it''s a sad, sad place.

[marcpcbs]

gunownerdan

respectfully

The growers that have overtaken Mendocino Co. CA have never given a didly squat about any law or regulation. There are thousands of lightweight growers today because the local law does nothing at all to stop them. Today''s high potency pot seriously turns off the minds of those who use it. To a student this is suicide. Any course of action that doesn''t get pot out of our schools as soon as possible is the wrong course. We need to employ strict law enforcement to get the production level back down to what the adult grab can consume. And we need to double the penalties against those who sell at schools.

Our kids are our future.

[honestabe8]

we all know that the best way to fight crime is to advertise that a criminal can make big bucks.

[honestabe8]

alcohol, tobacco, fast cars, high fat foods....

[gunownerdan]

Marijuana has been illegal for over 70 years and today it is America''s #1 cash crop.
BILLIONS of dollars in profits go right to drug gangs, drug dealers, and even terrorists thanks to their monopoly on all black market profits because of prohibition.
If marijuana was legal and regulated, it will force drug dealers, gangs, and terrorists to find another way to make money.
Regulation will also force people who want to buy marijuana to show ID and prove their age before purchasing it.
www.mpp.org

[marcpcbs]

gunownerdan

We have been fighting the war against murder since the dawn of civilization.

Have we stopped murder?

Do you think we should through away the laws against murder?

This is not a war against drugs. This is the ongoing war against crime. Against those who take the easy way and don''t care who they hurt. No matter what action they take. Drugs, Arson, Murder, Rape, and so on.

[marcpcbs]

gunownerdan

Regulation hasn''t kept alcohol out of the class room and it wont keep drugs out of the class room. This country will be dead and gone way before we can teach the drug dealers to care about kids and stop selling to them. People are not born with morals and ethics. It''s this countries laws and their strict enforcement that stops people from breaking hurting others. The reason we have pot in all our schools today is because portions of the country have stopped enforcing the drug laws, like northern California. Thats why there are so many greedy people have moved here from all around the world. Quick Big Money.

If there were a state or county that chose not to enforce the laws against pedophilia, guess where all the child molesters would gravitate?

[gunownerdan]

marcpcbs,
The only way to get drugs out of our schools is to regulate the drugs.
When I was in school during the 1990''s kids were buying and selling drugs in the middle of class.
Drugs were(and probably still is) much easier to get than alcohol!
Prohibition DOES NOT WORK!
www.LEAP.cc

[honestabe8]

Prohibition is the opposite of control. So, go F### yourself, *******.

[honestabe8]

Again, marc, you seem to be unable to make a point without an ad hom. I am tired of dealing with your stupidity. Next time a drunk runs over a kid in your town, remember to go up to the grieving parents and remind them that at least the driver wasn''t "on drugs".

[honestabe8]

Unleashing a pack of drug dealers? And, who is sponsoring these sporting events that the kids are watching? How is indoctrinating children into the "alcohol is not a drug" mindset best for their "health, education and the futures of our kids"?

[marcpcbs]

honestabe8

We think differently.

I want the drugs out of our schools and you appear to want the drugs in our schools.

[marcpcbs]

honestabe8

When you care more about the health, education and the futures of our kids than you care about unleashing a pack of drug dealers.

Only then will what I say make any sense to you

[honestabe8]

marc, marc, marc: you heartfully care about kids, so you advocate keeping a legal leg up for a more lethal drug?

answer the question.

[marcpcbs]

The difference here is that some people let the fact that they heartfully care about kids, the truth and the future affect the way they think.

And some don''t

[honestabe8]

Are you going to answer the question?

[honestabe8]

marc: if you want prohibition, this is one of the results. kids should not smoke pot, kids should not drink alcohol.

[marcpcbs]

So your answer is to flood our schools with pot because pot deserves equal time when it comes to hurting our children?