My own commonwealth tops the list for growth of prison population.
The largest percentage increase — 12 percent — was in Kentucky, where Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget speech last month. He noted that the state's crime rate had increased only about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state's inmate population has increased by 600 percent.
The rate of increase in the money on prisoners is six times that spent on higher education. In fact, four states--Vermont is the top one--spend more on prisons than colleges. On average, states spend more to house one prisoner than I make in a year. Heavier incarceration failed to affect recidivism or crime rates. Many states are looking to decrease costs by concentrating on imprisoning violent offenders and finding other ways of dealing with non-violent or relatively minor offences.
One in 30 men ages 20-34 are in prison, but for Black men of the same age it's 1 in 9.
The United States is number one in terms of numbers imprisoned, even outstripping China, which has a much greater population. It also is sixth in the world in capital punishment.
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