Number of U.S. Prisoners has Biggest Rise in 6 Years
June 28th, 2007Via: Yahoo / Reuters:
The United States, which has the most prisoners of any country in the world, last year recorded the largest increase in the number of people in prisons and jails since 2000, the Justice Department reported on Wednesday.
It said the nation’s prison and jail populations increased by more than 62,000 inmates, or 2.8 percent, to about 2,245,000 inmates in the 12-month period that ended on June 30, 2006. It was the biggest jump in numbers and percentage change in six years.
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According to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College in London, the United States has long had the world’s largest prison population, followed by China at 1.5 million and Russia at 885,670.
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Funny isn’t it, the two big bugaboo States of authoritarianism have less people in prison than the land of the free. Something like one quarter as many when considered in terms of population.
Really says something about ‘The Land of the Fee’, doesn’t it?
I was listening to an Amish man speaking about organic farming this past weekend, and he mentioned an interesting (in a depressing sort of way) statistic regarding the US’s prison population: There are currently more inmates than farmers in America. I think that pretty much sums up our current situation.
– Mike Lorenz