The Pew Center on the States says that for the first time in history, one in 100 Americans are in prison or jail. The study says states should
cut spending on corrections by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind
bars.
For all the money we spend on prison, the number of people who commit a crime after they are released has not improved. The study says:
Last year alone, states spent more than $49 billion on corrections, up
from $11 billion 20 years before. However, the national recidivism
rate remains virtually unchanged, with about half of released inmates
returning to jail or prison within three years. And while violent
criminals and other serious offenders account for some of the growth,
many inmates are low-level offenders or people who have violated the
terms of their probation or parole.
"For all the money spent on
corrections today, there hasn't been a clear and convincing return for
public safety," said Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety
Performance Project. "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."
According
to the report, 36 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons saw their
prison populations increase in 2007. Among the seven states with the
largest number of prisoners�those with more than 50,000 inmates�three
grew (Ohio, Florida and Georgia), while four (New York, Michigan, Texas
and California) saw their populations dip. Texas surpassed California
as the nation's prison leader following a decline in both states'
inmate populations -- Texas decreased by 326 inmates and California by
4,068. Ten states, meanwhile, experienced a jump in inmate population
growth of 5 percent or greater, a list topped by Kentucky with a surge
of 12 percent.
To view the entire report, including state-by-state data and methodology, visit the
Public Safety Performance Project's Web page.
Who's behind bars? The Pew study looked at U.S. Department of Justice data and found:
-While one in 30 men
between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, the figure is one in nine
for black males in that age group.
-Men are still roughly 13 times more
likely to be incarcerated, but the female population is expanding at a
far brisker pace.
-For black women in their mid- to late-30s, the
incarceration rate also has hit the one-in-100 mark.
-One
in every 53 adults in their 20s is behind bars; the rate for those over
55 is one in 837.
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How many papers have reported on the HUGE profit to...
