2.38 Million in US jails --- One in every 31 adults in United States -- !!!

[defendandprotect]

Justice Dept. Numbers Show Prison Trends
By SOLOMON MOORE
Published: December 6, 2007

About one in every 31 adults in the United States was in prison, in jail or on supervised release at the end of last year, the Department of Justice reported yesterday.

An estimated 2.38 million people were incarcerated in state and federal facilities, an increase of 2.8 percent over 2005, while a record 5 million people were on parole or probation, an increase of 1.8 percent. Immigration detention facilities had the greatest growth rate last year. The number of people held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities grew 43 percent, to 14,482 from 10,104.

The data reflect deep racial disparities in the nation’s correctional institutions, with a record 905,600 African-American inmates in prisons and state and local jails. In several states, incarceration rates for blacks were more than 10 times the rate of whites. In Iowa, for example, blacks were imprisoned at 13.6 times the rate of whites, according to an analysis of the data by the Sentencing Project, a research and advocacy group.

But the report concludes that nationally the percentage of black men in state and federal prison populations in 2006 fell to 38 percent, from 43 percent in 2000. The rates also declined for black women, while rates for white women increased.

Over all, the number of women in state and federal prisons, 112,498, was at a record high. The female jail and prison population has grown at double the rate for men since 1980; in 2006 it increased 4.5 percent, its fastest clip in five years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/us/06prison.html

[durrrty libby]

1. k .......... Work in a prison...understand the USA

[Tejas]

3. can you elaborate?

I've spoken with parole officers before and they've said repeat offenders just don't care, that jailtime isn't the end of the world.

What gives?

[durrrty libby]

7. Many care. Many just don't have hope. Many don't feel capable

Many need someone to hold their hand. Many have low IQs

They need a lot of work and even the best intentioned, end up giving up

The resources are not there. If "churches and the religious" really cared

this would be their true calling.

[Tejas]

14. Thanks n/t

[Tejas]

2. Parole the

non-violent offenders?

Maybe under condition of getting a job, making restitution and if they mess up, back to the pokey to finish their sentence?

3 strikes for felons?

I'll never comprehend someone that doesn't value their freedom.

[ixion]

4. you think people in prison don't value their freedom?

I think you're wrong. 80% of the people in prison are non-violent recreational drug users who have had their lives ruined.

I agree with your idea of releasing non-violent offenders, however, I disagree with the insinuation that those people don't value their freedom.

[Tejas]

9. evidently not enough, or

they wouldn't be there. Now I understand that's a pretty broad statement, but I wasn't trying to keep the question that narrow.

Only experience I've had personally was talking to inmates doing less than (and up to) a year. Some said "it aint nothin but a thang". I took it as not caring that they were in jail, and treated their stay as a speedbump.

I don't remember their crimes.

[ixion]

11. I'm sorry, but I think you're being naive

there's no other way to get through a hell like that other than being indifferent. Just because someone smokes a joint and gets caught doesn't mean they don't cherish their freedom.

[Tejas]

13. the freedom angle

was mainly meant towards the repeat felony offender.

Time expired, I can't edit it.

[ixion]

15. fair enough...

:hi:

[Orwellian_Ghost]

5. Define "freedom"

K&R

[Tejas]

10. as in outside the walls vs the alternative n/t

[qwertyMike]

6. Over all, the number of women in state and federal prisons, 112,498

mostly for check fraud
Stealing
Single moms CONDOMS IN SCHOOL

PILLS IN SCHOOL

[bob4460]

8. I bet 50% are non violent drug offenders

Those the people they want to lock up

[Bigmack]

12. Could it be that religion is the problem...?

Here's a LTTE I've had published in a couple of papers.
- - - - -

I read of a survey recently which found that about 85 % of Americans believe in God, much higher than in most developed countries, and according to a 1997 study by the University of Michigan, more Americans attend church at least once a week (44%) than attend in any other modern industrial country in the world. We also have the highest violence and murder rates.

Britain (25% church attendance), France (21%), and Germany (14%) have much lower crime rates and microscopic violence and murder rates compared to the United States.

Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden have international reputations as law-abiding and peaceful countries, yet their church attendance rates are around 5%.

Those figures indicate that at the very least we don’t seem to relate our religious beliefs to our conduct.

Some of our political leaders - a Democratic President and two Republican Speakers of the House and (more recently) a New York Mayor and a Colorado senator - don’t seem to let their belief in God or religion stand in the way of their sexual urges…just like some of our kids, since we also have (by far) the highest teen pregnancy rate in the world.

I don’t know what these other countries have (or don’t have) that makes them less violent and more “moral” but I’m uncomfortable that we have high church attendance…urging us to be good, and we have the highest incarceration rate in the world (2 million Americans in prison)….urging us not to be bad, and we still have the highest violence and murder rates in the developed world.

The other countries seem to have developed some sense of morality in place of religion, or beyond it. Perhaps we should look in that direction, since beliefs in God and religion and prayer, while they give comfort to many, haven’t done much to improve our conduct.

[Tejas]

17. Good stuff, congrats

on publication too.

I have something in my head about the increase of tolerance over the years + allowing excess welfare, but can't put it in words. Apathy is in there somewhere too.

Can you give me a hint?

[lovuian]

16. They are going to need more prisons

and they can't build enough