One in 31 U.S. Adults are Behind Bars, on Parole or Probation

[Hannah Bell]

Washington, DC - 03/02/2009 - Explosive growth in the number of people on probation or parole has propelled the population of the American corrections system to more than 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 U.S. adults, according to a report released today by the Pew Center on the States.

The vast majority of these offenders live in the community, yet new data in the report finds that nearly 90 percent of state corrections dollars are spent on prisons.

In the past two decades, state general fund spending on corrections increased by more than 300 percent, outpacing other essential government services from education, to transportation and public assistance. Only Medicaid spending has grown faster. Today, corrections imposes a national taxpayer burden of $68 billion a year. Despite this increased spending, recidivism rates have remained largely unchanged.

One in 31 adults in America is in prison or jail, or on probation or parole. Twenty-five years ago, the rate was 1 in 77.

Correctional control rates are highly concentrated by race and geography: 1 in 11 black adults (9.2 percent) versus 1 in 27 Hispanic adults (3.7 percent) and 1 in 45 white adults (2.2 percent);

1 in 18 men (5.5 percent) versus 1 in 89 women (1.1 percent).

The rates can be extremely high in certain neighborhoods. In one block-group of Detroit’s East Side, for example, 1 in 7 adult men (14.3 percent) is under correctional control.

Georgia, where 1 in 13 adults is behind bars or under community supervision, leads the top five states that also include Idaho, Texas, Massachusetts, Ohio and the District of Columbia

http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=49696

[varkam]

1. Well, at least we're still number one at something.

:shrug:

[Heidi]

2. Recommended.

:kick:

[no_hypocrisy]

3. And aren't voting.

[Mari333]

4. privatized prisons, cheap labour force

pays off for the big corporations doesnt it.

[Echo In Light]

5. It's amazing how few people are aware of this HUGE motivating factor to incarcerate

[MrsCorleone]

6. Our privatized prisons are making some serious coin (taxpayer funded)

with high incarceration rates. The more Americans that are locked up, the fatter their profits.

Equally tragic is what many, if not most, of those incarcerated across the country are forced to eat, which is basically faux food comprised of soy protein & soy derivatives. These high soy (cheap filler) diets are causing serious health problems among the prisoner populations, but nobody wants to talk about this, as this cheap food stuff means bigger profits for privatized prisons & the soy industry (ADM, Monsatan, Cargill).