Come on, America! 1 in 99 in prison? You can do better than that! All you have to do is support Bush and Congress in their privacy ravaging legislation because you just know that once put into place to hunt terrorists it will be used to root out potential criminals and thought-crime violators… all to make us safer. Let’s get cracking some heads and push this to 1 in 50!
Remember, imprisoning an evil marijuana farmer a day keeps the economy rolling with new prison construction contracts and jobs for guards!
1 In Every 99 Americans Now Behind Bars
Don’t ask the U.S. prison system if this is indeed “the land of the free.”
For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population.
The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.
Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world.
By contrast, in mid 2002 the ratio was 1 in 142, with the prison population surpassing 2 million for the first time.
The steadily growing inmate population “is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime,” said the report.
I’m not… oops, gotta run. chat later!
Your Next
You can send a person to a fine school for the same or less per year. 30K.
Land of the free. My Ass !!!
I knew that you were a bunch of criminals.
I am just surprised that your criminal in chief is not in prison yet…
That’s a lot of empty homes. Hmmm….
I know this to be true because I’ve been a public defender for 20 years now and personally have put at least 1/3 of these guys behind bars.
Wait – Do your clients know that you’re trying to put them behind bars???? If that’s your way of saying that you are poor counsel, I’m sure your past clients would like new trials!
There’s another – more difficult – question within this matrix. 1 of every 9 Black Americans has been in prison.
Presuming you’re bright enough to get beyond typical racist reasoning, presuming you might even wander outside the multiplicity of cause-and-effect relationships on the front end of this number – consider the fact that the bulk of our population neither is aware of this or gives a damn.
So, why would you expect our citizens to fight back against a police state? The people in charge say it’s OK.
#6 – No, I gave them the best counsel I could. They were just guilty as shit.
Not very difficult at all. Just look at their culture. Loud mouth leaders like Sharpton and Jackson who basically endorse the notion that all their problems are because of the white man. Father-less households, rap music which glorifies crime and abuse of women, I could go on.
Yes, they are aware and No, they don’t give a damn. Most of these people are where they belong, safely away from me and my family. Put that in your liberal pipe and smoke it.
This is just what Pat Moynihan predicted. Of course, everyone called him a racist for saying it.
It’s crazy. We have a higher percentage of our population in prison that nations who imprison political dissidents. That land of the free my ass.
The main reason why there are more US citizens in prison now (with nearly all of them having some police record from traffic violations to DUI) is due to a fundamental break down in ethics.
It has nothing to do with religion and “morals” as the days between 1789 and the 1840’s many US citizens hardly attended church. Even our founding fathers PAID for seats in their churches and then never went.
Our nation has slipped in and out of ethical behavior, personal responsibility and forthrightness over and over. We have had cycles of this from generation to generation. It is now become a bigger situation as our population has grown to record levels. We see it more evident now that we did during the industrial revolution and the western expansion.
Both times were rife with criminal activity due to a lack of ethicals standards and proper supervision of parents.
It was the back lash of those times with drug consumption out of hand, criminal pursuits in offices of government and on the streets that led to institution of deceny laws, prohibition and legislation to absurd degrees. Censorship was rife then and they were as bad a nanny state as we are becomeing now.
Laws are NOT the solution. Ethics, like morals, cannot be legislated. The change has to come from education of how unprofitable illegal activities are. How they harm not only innocents but the criminal itself.
This is not being taught either in the family unit anymore (like it was not in the industrial revolution period where mothers and fathers would work shifts at factories while children were left as latchkeys) nor in the schools nor from the established social/faternal groups.
Because we have abandoned these standards of ethics and citizenship that taught responsibility, we have again sank back down into a cesspool way of life.
We can’t blame pigments of skin, socio-economics, government leadership or outside intervention. We can only blame our apathy and laziness.
It will take a nationwide effort to counter this problem, just like it has very single other time it happened.
Cursor_
This shit will stop only when foreign countries stop financing our debt. So,
Dear Foreigners,
STOP BUYING TREASURY BILLS!
Sincerely,
An Exasperated American
Prisons; the new Homeland. How secure I feel.
25% !!! Maybe that 1 in 99 figure should be amended to reflect those who aren’t American but illegal, criminal invaders… Just to head off the question: No they aren’t in jail for being illegal aliens. They are there for other criminal acts…
“by Lisa Wahla, Antelope Valley Press December 26, 2000.
“Almost one-fourth of county jail inmates are subject to deportation, a population costing Los Angeles taxpayers more than $150 million a year, the Sheriff’s Department reported.
The recently released study found that 23% of county inmates fall under the “deportable criminal alien” category, which includes illegal immigrants and legal immigrants who have committed serious crimes and therefore lost their legal status…
Another key problem for the county, according to the Sheriff’s Department report, is the high rate of recidivism for criminal illegal residents.
Forty-five percent of criminal illegal immigrants are re-arrested after their release, with more than 80% of those offenses occurring in L.A. County, said Bob Mimura, head of the countywide criminal justice coordinating committee.”
You know, it’s entierely possible that most of the people in prison actually committed crimes and deserve to be there. I mean, haven’t you ever watched COPS?
#16
You won’t get much agreement there. Responsibility for ones own actions isn’t what is currently popular…
My post above showing that 25% of LA county criminals are illegals won’t be popular either as ALL illegals are just poor, honest & oppressed and cost the tax payer nothing….
Obama will save us. He will fix everything.
#18
True if we are no longer a sovereign nation we can’t have illegal immigration. Fixed! 😉
And they aren’t even counting those in the gulag!
And they aren’t even counting the 530 or so in Congress who SHOULD be in prison!
But the problem has a rather simple answer. Reverse laws against victimless crimes and the percentages will be in line with other first world countries.
Here’s a thought. Tax my good fried Mary Jane like we do Jim Beam. Let those in jail on drug charges go, use the tax money collected plus that saved by lower jail costs to go towards doing something about the deficit, which just might stop the dollar’s freefall!
@DaveW
STFU Dave, you are making to much sense. That is not allowed in the GOUSA.
Yeap–googled for a nicely presented statistical chart on crime trends-can’t find one. But any google will show:
1. Violent crime rate trending down from the 60’s.
2. Non Violent drug offenses leading to jail trending up especially from the 80’s.
3. Crimes involving drugs trending up.
Crying shame. I guess if we get too many empty “built on speculation” jails, the response will be to further criminalize other non-violent social behaviors. Why shouldn’t all first offense DUI’s be put in jail for say 6 months?? etc.
Cant say which predominates:
1. Stupid
2. destructive
3. expensive
4. inhumane
etc.
#22
Driving a two ton device after 1st intentionally incapacitating yourself isn’t violent. Tell THAT to DUI injury & death victims.
Also, if you injure yourself while under the influence, the medical bill shouldn’t be on the tax payers dime.
I do agree that an adult using drugs while NOT endangering others shouldn’t be a jailable offense though. On the other hand selling to minors should get you locked up for a LONG time.
On the other hand selling to minors should get you locked up for a LONG time.
You mean like when you sell them booze and cigarettes?
#24
Booze yes. Cigarettes aren’t mind altering. I’m not concerned with a teenager having a cig then driving…
So, you don’t want those who sell drugs to minors locked up?
#23, patrick,
I do agree that an adult using drugs while NOT endangering others shouldn’t be a jailable offense though. On the other hand selling to minors should get you locked up for a LONG time.
Why? If one action is ok, then why is the other wrong?
The reason for such a high prison rate has as much to do with your comment as anything. Without pointing to you specifically. It’s called “vengeance”.
Just look at gq’s comments in #9
Most of these people are where they belong, safely away from me and my family. Put that in your liberal pipe and smoke it.
Most Neanderthals like gq don’t want justice. They want to see every once of humanity taken from the person on trial. People don’t care about when these “criminals” are released. “Just keep them away from me. And I ain’t gonna hire me no con neidder. And I don’t want no stinking ex-con living in my neighborhood”.
When these people are incarcerated, most of them get no help. Many have mental issues that got them put away in the first place. Others have addictions. The majority have below average education and job skills. By ignoring the problems that put them into prison in the first place is only asking for them to go right back.
***
And gq,
Loud mouth leaders like Sharpton and Jackson who basically endorse the notion that all their problems are because of the white man.
Now that is a great comment. Was it Al Sharpton that arrested the “Duke Lacrosse” players? Were the police and prosecutors even black? But you do know that if the police had of arrested some black players instead of the rich white kids, they would be in jail and we would never have heard of this. It was only the expensive lawyers demanding answers that got the truth out. The rich are seldom ever arrested or charged.
The Innocence Project finds a far higher percentage of their victories where blacks have been denied a fair trial and just thrown in jail.
The North Western University School of Journalism who found that 9 of 17 death row inmates were innocent? Guess what color they were.
Now, gq, are you endorsing the “white” power structure throwing people in jail? Did you know that NOT ONE police officer that lied or prosecutor that withheld evidence or judge that threw out defense motions has ever been disciplined. Yes, Nifong has been charged, lost his license, yada, yada. Now, name one other that has.
It is just so much easier to blame Al Sharpton than accept your own role in this injustice. Gq, YOU symbolize the problem.
#23–Patrick, and other right wing nut knuckle draggers===you show an interesting skew in your posting which I think must reflect your actual thought process (sic!).
Yeap–everyone in prison is a dangerous violent monster.
Every DUI presents a dangerous violent criminal.
Yet the truth is most prisoners are non violent drug related and most dui’s are again statutory drug violations unrelated to risk to the public==we’ve all seen posted here that driving while on cell phone or sleepy is more dangerous than low level dui’s.
Well, cheer up. I see driving on cell phone is getting clamped down on from the same moral forces as you demonstrate==intolerance for others while assuming your hypocrisy will keep yourself out of jail.
and the trends continue.
Who OUT HERE, isnt in prison??
White Collar THIEVES,…
# 27 bobbo said, “Yeap–everyone in prison is a dangerous violent monster.”
Literacy isn’t your strong suit, is it?
I said taking drugs while NOT endangering others shouldn’t be an offense that lands you in jail.
ANYONE getting behind the wheel while under the influence is a menace to society. Are you really such an idiot, or do you just play one while blogging?
When you learn to read get back to me…
The people are difficult to govern because of the (excessive) agency of their superiors (in governing them). It is through this that they are difficult to govern. – Lao-tzu