US prison population largest in world

[tatu]

US prison population largest in world

www.chinaview.cn 2005-10-24 09:21:35


WASHINGTON, Oct.23 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States has the world's largest prison population and the figure is still growing, a government report said Sunday.

According to a report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics of US Justice Department, the US prison population, already the largest in the world, grew 1.9 percent to 2,267,787 people last year.

However, the growth rate was lower than the average 3.2 percentin the last decade.

The report said the US incarceration rate, also highest among all countries, hit 486 sentenced inmates per 100,000 last year, up 18 percent from 411 a decade ago.

The five states with the highest incarceration rates in 2004 were all from the South, led by Louisiana with 816 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents.

Meanwhile, the five states with the lowest rates were all from the North, with Maine experiencing 148 sentenced inmates per 100,000 residents.

Paige Harrison, coauthor of the report, attributed some of the prison population rise to tougher sentencing policies implemented in the late 1990s.

She said the average time served by prisoners today is seven months longer than it was in 1995.

"You bring more people in, you keep them longer......inevitablyyou're going to have growth," she said.

The Justice Policy Institute, a legal thinktank, said the statistics show little relationship between prison population growth and the crime rate, which has been falling in recent years.

An earlier government report said the US violent crimes during 2004 were at the lowest level in over three decades.

Given the ever-expanding prison population, US legal experts urged policy-makers to reconsider current sentencing policies, in order to avoid expensive incarceration costs and to invest in moreproductive prevention and treatment approaches to crime. Enditem

[bcbm]

US legal experts urged policy-makers to reconsider current sentencing policies, in order to avoid expensive incarceration costs and to invest in moreproductive prevention and treatment approaches to crime.

I doubt any such "reconsideration" will occur. The prison industry is making a killing and its child the drug war is also bringing a lot of companies a lot of money.

[Hampton]

I think it has been the higest for a while. It's been over 2.1 million for at least a year or so.


The Justice Policy Institute, a legal thinktank, said the statistics show little relationship between prison population growth and the crime rate, which has been falling in recent years.

An earlier government report said the US violent crimes during 2004 were at the lowest level in over three decades.

That's because it has nothing to do with violent crime, it is all drug laws and policies that land people in jail. Non-violent offenders are the biggest group in jail.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Right. And by a wide margin.

Blacks and hispanics are also imprissioned at ridiculous rates!

They're put to work making microchips, selling airline tickets over the phone(!), all sorts of shit .. and they're paid about 50 cents an hour.

I recently read that they're brining chain gangs back in the south.

[Urban Guerrilla]

Prison conditions are horrible. Prison guards don't give a shit. A good deal of them is in there just for drug use, possesion, and trafficking alone :che:

[YoUnG192]

I thought Brasil had a higher prison population, guess am wrong. But it is hard to believe our prison population is bigger than Brasil's.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Believe it.

[TheReadMenace]

The five states with the highest incarceration rates in 2004 were all from the South, led by Louisiana with 816 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents.

Does this come as a surprise?

I know most of you know this, but I'm going to post it anyway.

During the 1800s, the South was fueled by slavery and agriculture. Most of the agriculture was cash crop, not subsistence. So most of the resources were going towards exports, and not much emphasis was placed on the living conditions. Right there we can see the groundwork for future poverty.

With the creation of the cotton gin, slavery was strengthened, and cotton and various other cash crops were produced and sent to Northern factories to be processed. The South became dependent on this cycle of production, since it was not an industrialised area.

As the Civil War approached, croppers were pressured to produce more for less. This type of overproduction leads to economic recession, and with the Civil War at hand, this depression was intensified. And with the South not being an industrialised region, the consequences were dire.

So the North prospers while the South suffers in such a way that full recovery is nigh impossible. Poverty is practically a norm, racism flourishes, and the effects of a class society lie at the root of all conflict.

I've been through Louisianna, Alabama, and Mississippi, and I can tell you first hand that these areas are nowhere near as prosperous (as a whole) as the North. Looking at the history of the region, we can see why.

So why is it that the South has the highest imprisonment rates? Because it's one of the poorest regions in the US. Why does that have an affect? Because with poverty comes 'crime.' The mainstreams of existence are made largely unaffordable to people born into a region with little chance at commendable economic prosperity, and are then left to turn to whatever means necessary to achieve the 'American Dream.'

[Bannockburn]

Interesting. What is more interesting is the assumption that crime is linked to punishment. If that is the case, then obviously imprisonment should be going down, since crime is going down. It has been for sometime now. Yet, the function of prison is not for punishment. Its for individuals who fall outside the economic social system. Its been happening for years. Foucault writes about this. Umm lets see, another fact: The US prison population is closely reaching the per capita amount of Hitler and Stalin.

[TheReadMenace]

Hmm, I never looked at it like that. That's a good point, too.

And yes, crime is going down - yet prison rates keep going up. I guess that's what they get for being black, huh?

And the War on Drugs is wonderful, too.

They should know better than to be born poor!

Andrew

[tatu]

I'm not sure how accurate this is, but I thought this link may be relevant:

Click here (http://www.parascope.com/articles/0197/prison.htm)

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

It's very accurate. That's what I was describing earlier.

[ComradeOm]

Am I the only one seeing some disturbing similarities with Arbeit Macht Frei?

[Ownthink]

Has anyone noticed that all the "War's On" land the most people in jail for all the wrong reasons?

War on Drugs, War On Terror, etc, all never ending "wars" that hurt more people than they help (by a shitload).

[Bannockburn]

That is the whole point. Read Hardt and negri's Multitude

[Atlas Swallowed]

I might soon be added to the growing prison population in the USA. I have a pending illigal weapons charge and face up to two years in prison. If i go I hope they don't try to make be a f**king tele-marketer.

[NE_Liberal]

No sympathy here for an illegal weapons crime.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Much sympathy here for it. A few of my close comrades were deported because of them.

I hope you not only beat it, but are able to secure more . ;)

[Atlas Swallowed]

No crime commited but possession. Don't want sympathy anyhow. I believe people have the right to own weapons without the governments knowledge. I am willing to go to jail for my beliefs. Gun control and tyranny go hand and hand.

[Atlas Swallowed]

Originally posted by [email protected] 25 2005, 07:49 PM
Much sympathy here for it. A few of my close comrades were deported because of them.

I hope you not only beat it, but are able to secure more . ;)
Thankyou.

[Guerrilla22]

this isn't new news to me.

[Urban Guerrilla]

Originally posted by Atlas [email protected] 25 2005, 07:35 PM
I might soon be added to the growing prison population in the USA.
Sorry to hear that comrade. They'll either make you do some labor work or something office corrupted depending on how serious the charges are. They don't let "serious offenders" out off of prison grounds, but I'm not sure in your case :che:

[YoUnG192]

We have the largest documented prison population. Many countries do not document their prisoners. For example my family in Dominican Republic have known people who are just thrown in jail no trial or "awaiting trial" and they are let out years later. That happens all the time in the Caribbean and Latin America, most of them do no document their prisoners.

[ComradeOm]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27 2005, 01:38 AM
We have the largest documented prison population. Many countries do not document their prisoners. For example my family in Dominican Republic have known people who are just thrown in jail no trial or "awaiting trial" and they are let out years later. That happens all the time in the Caribbean and Latin America, most of them do no document their prisoners.
Do you honestly think that the Dominican Republic has a quater of its population in jail? How many nations can afford to keep over two million people in cells?

[YoUnG192]

Originally posted by ComradeOm+Oct 27 2005, 08:53 AM--> (ComradeOm @ Oct 27 2005, 08:53 AM)
[email protected] 27 2005, 01:38 AM
We have the largest documented prison population. Many countries do not document their prisoners. For example my family in Dominican Republic have known people who are just thrown in jail no trial or "awaiting trial" and they are let out years later. That happens all the time in the Caribbean and Latin America, most of them do no document their prisoners.
Do you honestly think that the Dominican Republic has a quater of its population in jail? How many nations can afford to keep over two million people in cells? [/b]
What is this kindergarden? You must read my WHOLE post before you post a reply. I gave my country the Dominican Republic as a example of a country that does not document its prisoners which shows you their must be a larger prison population in a latin nation like Mexico or Brasil. When did I ever say in my post that D.R's prison population is larger than America's??? I used D.R as a example of a third world and Latin American country which does not document prisoners. And what do you mean afford prisoners? You really think their are proper conditions in prison systems around the world? You think they are fed 3 times a day? It is unbelieveably cheap to run a prison in Latin America, they are all overcrowded.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Are you even a communist? Alot of your posts make me question it.

Estoy aquí [en la isla] ahora, and I know that alot of prisoners aren't documented, but that hardly means that we [or anyone else in Latin America] have anywhere near the amount of prisoners as the US.

Because, although la P.N. don't document most of the people they throw in the small jails scattered around for a few days (or do so in fucking spiral notebooks as I know from experience), they DO document them if they are convicted of a crime and sentanced to time.

Mexico has 155,000 documented prisoners and Brazil has 233,500 documents prisoners. These are the leaders of Latin America [the DR has 15,000]. So, if your analysis were to be correct, Brazil would have to have
2,033,000 undocumented prisoners even to be equal to the U.S.. That would mean that 90% of the prisoners in Brazil were undocumented. How realistic do you think that is?