One Percent Of U.S. Adults Behind Bars

All Headline News ^ | June 12, 2008 | Vittorio Hernandez

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - It is not just gas and food prices and mortgage foreclosure rates that are soaring in the U.S. The country's prison population is also on an all time high, with one percent of American adults behind bars.

A Pew Center on the States report pointed out the U.S. has the largest number of people in prison. Among black males, the ratio was one in 15, while it was one in 35 for Hispanic men. Women prisoners also logged its highest rate of increase in 2006 compared to the previous five years. Bureau of Justice Statistics data said the spike in female inmates was felt mostly in Hawaii, North Dakota, Wyoming and Oklahoma.

In 1980 1.8 million were behind bars which cost federal and state governments $11 billion to maintain. By 2006, the numbers had ballooned to 7.2 million inmates and a whooping maintenance bill of $45 billion.

Ryan King, policy analyst of the Sentencing Project, compared the spiraling numbers to "a runaway train."

"Nobody's taking a step back and asking where all these billions of dollars are going," King told Washington Post, adding, "States need billions of dollars to build enough beds to catch up to where they need to be."

To address the growing federal and state prison headcount, various measures are underway including early release of offenders with non-threatening crimes.

A key factor to the growing number of prisoners was the availability and depth of sentencing guidelines. According to a study by the National Center for State Courts released in May, state sentencing guidelines were linked to predictability, lesser discrimination and higher transparency in sentencing.

Scott Thorpe, chief executive of the California District Attorneys Association, finds nothing wrong in the non-stop growth of the U.S. prison population. Thorpe explained to the Washington Post, "If you look at the fact that these people who are committing a crime, creating a danger to the public, you can't look at it as wrong."

He added, "What is the appropriate number of people to be incarcerated to ensure public safety? I don't know if you can answer that."

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Cut all Social Spending, and build more prisons. It'll be cheaper in the long run because we're already paying the way of these criminals anyway through said Social Programs. The 99% of productive Americans don't go on crime sprees for the most part, yet are funding the 1% that do, one way or another.

[drc43]

Wasn't there an article out just the other day citing the drop in violent crime across the US?

The press was mystified as I recall.

Hmmmmm

[tlj18]

Screw prisons. Build slave labor camps instead.

[weegee]

I read that they massaged the numbers.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

We can’t do that! That would be too mean and would hurt the ‘feeeeeeeeelings’ of the prisoners because all they really need is a big old hug!

<-Bleeding Heart Mode Off->

[Nervous Tick]

>> Screw prisons. Build slave labor camps instead.

And build ‘em at the borders, so the prisoners can work twelve hour days at hard labor building a real working WALL.

It’s a win-win, baby!

[alloysteel]

“American adults” is a different term from “adults in America”.

A goodly part of these incarcerated adults are foreign nationals, disporportionaly of Hispanic origin. And these adult Hispanics are not incarcerated simply they are Hispanics, but because they have been convicted of a crime of a nature sufficiently violent and with harsh effect to have justified prison time.

[sitetest]

Perhaps I'm missing something but this doesn't make sense:

“One Percent Of U.S. Adults Behind Bars”

That would be about 2.5 million persons.

“In 1980 1.8 million were behind bars which cost federal and state governments $11 billion to maintain. By 2006, the numbers had ballooned to 7.2 million inmates and a whooping maintenance bill of $45 billion.”

7.2 million would be closer to 3%.

[dfwgator]

“Thank God we got penitentiaries.” - Richard Pryor

[Oldexpat]

Lots of the so called “non violent” criminals, actually committed violent acts, but were prosecuted for possession or dealing since that was easier and hard evidence existed without many witnesses.
These so called “non violent” drug offenders should not be released.
Crime is down because these guys are in jail. But we should have big non glamorous work camps on the border for foreing criminals.

[Erik Latranyi]

Build more prisons. Put predators away and watch the economy blossom.

[EyeGuy]

1% of all US adults is a somewhat meaningless statistic.

The article would have real meaning and point to the huge dichotomy in American culture, if the breakdown IN THE HEADLINE was by RACE.

No, that most definitely is NOT racism, it is a highly useful, cold statement of factual data.

[elmer fudd]

I actually think that would be a good idea. What I’d do is give all the less serious, non-violent offenders a chance to go to a work camp instead of prison. They’d put in 6, 12 hour days, live in tents or barracks and actually do something productive. The upside for them would be that they would be that they would be living in a much safer environment.

[Dick Bachert]

Two disparate thoughts on the subject:

1. Put REAL criminals — those who pose a danger to persons or property of others — in prison.
(”... There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any
government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one MAKES them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
......just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted — and you create a nation of law-breakers — and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Reardon, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.” p.411, Ayn Rand, ATLAS SHRUGGED, Signet Books, NY, 1957

2. Find alternative penalties (and/or lower cost treatment programs) for NON-VIOLENT (mainly soft drug) offenders. They’d almost certainly cost LESS than the $40K/year +/-cost for incarceration.

And, BTW, they ARE building those camps/prisons: The inmates will most likely be conservatives and those who faintly recall that archaic document, that “goddamned piece of paper” called the Constitution.

[RockinRight]

That’s a great Pryor skit. It’s like his “awakening” that blacks in jail really are violent criminals!

[muawiyah]

The article is saying that 7.2 million adult Americans are/were behind bars in 2006. With about 80 million who are not yet adult, that gives us 220 million adults, that would be 3.2% of adult Americans behind bars, not 1%.

With this reduction to 1%, or 2.2 million, that gives us a 72% reduction in the number of Americans in prison IN JUST 2 YEARS TIME!!!!!

Any conclusion (based on the information in this article) that we have a need to release prisoners is obviously mistaken.

[Leisler]

Encourage lethal force defense of property and life. One by one, this will drain the swamp.

Part B. Stop filling the swamp by food, housing and medical subsidizing of the criminal class at the expense of working and middle class. Slatterns and their males should not be encouraged to have their feral families. Family support should come from church, family, friends. If you don't have any, you are not socialized and your attitudes should not be patterned onto your feral spawn.

The best way to do this is move all prison, prison halfway houses, low income, Section 8, clinics to high end, liberal towns that politically and philosophically support these industries.

And when the liberals move away from their little socialist monsters, move these 'social projects' yet again.

I call this process 'Educating liberals through muggings theory'.

[Vaquero]

WE NEED TO PUT MORE DIRTBAGS IN PRISON.

All Crips, all Bloods, all MS13. and we need to deport all illegals, violent or not.

and while we have the dirtbags in prison....EXECUTE ALL RAPISTS, PEDOPHILES AND MURDERERS.

that should free up some room for, oh lets say, all the TRAITORS in and out of Congress.

[Leo Farnsworth]

OK, let's have some fun with numbers:

Iraq currently has 27,000,000 citizens. (source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/iz.html)

Saddam Baraq Hussein executed more than 300,000 of his own citizens and buried them in mass graves.

That's more than 1% of the population. And there were many ‘lefties’ who thought this was OK. Many of these same voices think we have too many citizens in prisons. Idiots.

[snarkytart]

Only 1%?
Probably should be more than that.

[mysterio]

Stop putting people in prison for having a plant and watch those jails clear right out.

[MartinStyles]

Are you serious?

I doubt that many are in for any illegal plant. Kind of a shame though if they aren’t.

You people seem to see things through a drug-view. Everything’s about pot to you guys. jmc or whatever also acts that way.

Maybe try to shift your life’s important issues?

[Natchez Hawk]

Land of the Free...

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Although there are inarguably some number of innocent people in prisons, the overwhelming majority soundly deserve to be there. There are plenty of people on the outside who are vicious and opportunistic predators. If all the unjustly imprisoned folks were swapped with all the near-criminals on the outside, I’d suspect the total prison population would be the same. Thus, the sheer numbers do not alarm me. Who among us would deny that 2-3-4% of everyone they have met on the outside isn’t a special breed of scumbag?

I agree, there are plenty of folks in prison for nonviolent drug crimes, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s a shame and a waste of money. I would much rather send the $30K-$40K a year to house an inmate on just about anything. But it is utterly essential we incarcerate those who would transform society into a predatory and violent place. It’s just one of many decisions and actions a civil society must take.

[popdonnelly]

A more civilized society, in which people had some moral principles, wouldn’t have that many people behind bars.

[NonValueAdded]

One out of one hundred a criminal? Why is the count so low?

[B4Ranch]

Bookmark these maps because they show where the majority of violent homicides in the US are originating from.

_______________________________________________________________

These maps are from the article titled "Anti-gun Promo Blackfires"

I think perhaps it should have been entitled, "The African Americans are slaughtering each other in our US Cities"

Baltimore, PROPER, which is reflected on the map has 64.34% Black or African American, 31.63% White.

_______________________________________________________________

This Baltimore Sun map shows a terrible problem, but does not clarify who the murderers are.

Baltimore Sun map of PEOPLE murdered, 2007:

_______________________________________________________________

Baltimore Sun map of BLACKS murdered, 2007: (264)

_______________________________________________________________

Baltimore Sun map of WHITES murdered, 2007: (12)

Of the 12, 6 were killed *downtown* probably while buying drugs. _______________________________________________________________

That's right a small percentage of people, generally gangs and drug dealers, in our large cities are causing the majority of the gun related homicides in the US. Do not allow this data to be covered up or hidden. Do not allow the gun control nutcases to take away your self defense weapons.

SOURCE: http://essentials.baltimoresun.com/micro_sun/homicides/
Baltimore, PROPER, Population 651,154
Baltimore, greater metropolitan area, Population 5.1 Million

[NonValueAdded]

In 1980 1.8 million were behind bars which cost federal and state governments $11 billion to maintain. By 2006, the numbers had ballooned to 7.2 million inmates and a whooping maintenance bill of $45 billion.

Not bad management! A 300% increase in population with the cost per inmate rising a paltry 2%. Heck, there is no mention of inflation adjustment so the real cost per inmate is probably waaaaaay down. Crank in recidivism rates and the cost of future crimes and the $6250 a year spent to incarcerate criminals is probably the best investment ever!!!

[Waco]

The most important thing is,,,p-ss on the victims, right??

[CSM]

” The 99% of productive Americans...”

I think you are being generous!

[absalom01]

This report appears to conflate people in prison (ie, felons), with people in jail (ie, misdemeanants and people awaiting trial).

I don’t know about the rest of the country, but here in Cali, you don’t get sent to prison for posession of “soft drugs”, for personal use, if by that you mean weed. Small amounts of powder, same thing. County isn’t prison, not by a fair sight.

Many, if not most, of the folks I’ve met who’ve gone on to prison have ALSO had some misdemeanor drug charges to go along with theh assault, robbery, burglary etc. charges. That doesn’t make the offender non-violent, but that is how they are sometimes counted in these studies with an ax to grind...

[Marie2]

Were I in prison, I’d appreciate good honest work to do.

I don’t mean 12 hours breaking rock in the hot sun, but something equivalent to what most full time employees do.

I wouldn’t be bored.

I’d stay in shape.

I’d learn a skill.

Perhaps I could even earn so money so when I get out I’d have a little something in the bank.

Far more humane, if you ask me. People don’t do well sitting around doing nothing.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Most likely so, LOL!

[Dumpster Baby]

“Thank God we got penitentiaries.” - Richard Pryor

"Say, Bubba, why'd you go in that house and kill all them people?"

" 'cause they was home."

LOL

[Fishrrman]

"1% of all US adults is a somewhat meaningless statistic.
The article would have real meaning and point to the huge dichotomy in American culture, if the breakdown IN THE HEADLINE was by RACE.
No, that most definitely is NOT racism, it is a highly useful, cold statement of factual data."

As is this:
http://amren.com/ar/1994/06/index.html
(sorry, can't post a clickable link - it's a controversial source)

- John

[EyeGuy]

“As is this:
http://amren.com/ar/1994/06/index.html";

Yes. The dirty little truth that no one wants to state plainly. I’ll bet with the ascension of the thug, hip hop culture, the situation has not changed for the better since 1994.

Thanks for the link.

[PLMerite]

“One Percent Of U.S. Adults Behind Bars”

That’s a lot of bartenders.

Oh, not that kind of bar... Nevermind.

[Leisler]

There are two sides to every bar.

[tlj18]

I personally feel that jails are little more than a colossal waste of money and people's lives, and a detriment to society. In my world, the only use for prisons would be for holding people (i.e., they just committed a crime, they are on trial and are a flight risk/danger to society, etc.), and for short-term imprisonments (no longer than 3 months). Everyone else, send them to slave labor camps, working about 12 hours a day. It also establishes the basis for re-introducing them back into society. They learn a marketable skill, and hey, maybe even let corporations establish links to the slave labor camps; the prisoners can walk out one day, and immediately have a job. They are both punished and possibly recuperated. Reward hard and honest work in the camps.

Here's a novel thought: if someone commits a crime, punish them for it. Locking them up and letting them rot in jail does nothing, and encourages repeat offenders. If someone steals something or commits vandalism, make them pay it back, and maybe a short stint in a slave labor camp for reinforcement.