One in 100 Americans in Prison: Study

[NickD 203]

Yeah, I had to find something on the net to be like AJ. found this without too much searching from http://www.truthout.org/article/one-100-americans-prison.

Told it cost the taxpayers 10 grand a year to baby sit your kid, with a class size of 30, that's $300,000 per year, where the teacher gets maybe $20,000-40,000 per year. That is not governed by the ability of the teacher to teach or to do a good job, is depended upon the number of initials they have after their names. But that still leaves at least $260,000.00 for conceivably, just the cost of the classroom. Well, did hear that teacher needs support from up above, must be a lot of support for these none classroom supporters. Exactly what to do they anyway?

Prison cost per prisoner is four times that much that works out to $110.00, sure most of us could get a nice hotel room for that with room service. From what I have seen 2-6 or more prisoners sharing a very tiny concrete wall cell, don't find any walnut paneling, and just get a rack with a seatless toilet, and certainly no room service. Like the schools, has to be overhead.

The guy tallking on PBS said most of these cases are none-violent drug uses, some as simple as a kid swiping a pain killer from his mom and trying to sell it for a couple of bucks. Think they said his last name is Butler, was a federal prosecutor, claiming we have corruption in our judicial system. From the numbers listed above, can certainly see that corruption in cost to the taxpayers.

On that back road yesterday, it was a mess with pot holes, when our state was charging a nickle a gallon for gas, we had beautiful roads, now a mess with 55 cents a gallon tax. So we have corruption in our roads, in our schools, and in our prisons. No wonder why are state is going broke, but can only wonder whose pocket all that money is ending up in? But do know, it's coming out of our pockets.

" One in 100 Americans in Prison: Study

The Globe and Mail Canada Thursday 28 February 2008

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 and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.

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.

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.

Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said budget woes are prompting officials in many states to consider new, cost-saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the recent past for fear of appearing soft in crime.

"We're seeing more and more states being creative because of tight budgets," she said in an interview. "They want to be tough on crime, they want to be a law-and-order state - but they also want to save money, and they want to be effective."

The report cited Kansas and Texas as states which have acted decisively to slow the growth of their inmate population. Their actions include greater use of community supervision for low-risk offenders and employing sanctions other than re-imprisonment for ex-offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation rules.

"The new approach, born of bipartisan leadership, is allowing the two states to ensure they have enough prison beds for violent offenders while helping less dangerous lawbreakers become productive, taxpaying citizens," the report said.

According to the report, the inmate population increased last year in 36 states and the federal prison system.

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 Pew report was compiled by the Center on the State's Public Safety Performance Project, which is working directly with 13 states on developing programs to divert offenders from prison without jeopardizing public safety.

"For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn't been a clear and convincing return for public safety," said the project's director, Adam Gelb. "More and more states are beginning to rethink their reliance on prisons for lower-level offenders and finding strategies that are tough on crime without being so tough on taxpayers."

The report said prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime or in the nation's overall population. Instead, it said, more people are behind bars mainly because of tough sentencing measures, such as "three-strikes" laws, that result in longer prison stays.

"For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling," the report said. "While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine."

The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails - a total 2,319,258 out of almost 230 million American adults.

The report said the United States is the world's incarceration leader, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which make up the rest of the Top 10."

[Danno 1,228]

YEah we have heard these reports before.

What always seems telling to me is the willingness to highlight the "American" demographic concerning incarceration rates.... but not a mention of the soaring demographics .....within the American demographic.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There are too many jailable offenses in this country.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Nick,

Your numbers for school costs are not very accurate. The state of CA spends just over $7,000 per student (based on the geographical cost of education index), which ranks the state 46th. But that's beside the point.

The prison cost involves the high level of security, medical care for the prisoners....so $110 is probably a pretty good bargain. However, I do agree we have way too many Americans in prison. We need to decriminalize all drug use and instead put the money into drug treatment programs, but the Right Wingers don't like that idea.

[웃 910]

Nick,

Your numbers for school costs are not very accurate. The state of CA spends just over $7,000 per student (based on the geographical cost of education index), which ranks the state 46th. But that's beside the point.

The prison cost involves the high level of security, medical care for the prisoners....so $110 is probably a pretty good bargain. However, I do agree we have way too many Americans in prison. We need to decriminalize all drug use and instead put the money into drug treatment programs, but the Right Wingers don't like that idea.

Are you talking about decriminalizing 'getting caught' with whatever illegal drug or making all drugs legal to the point where you can buy them over the counter?

Isn't that like decriminalizing murder and then putting the money into buying more funeral homes?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think that's only true if you bought into the Dope Fiend public information films from the 50s.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Nick,

Your numbers for school costs are not very accurate. The state of CA spends just over $7,000 per student (based on the geographical cost of education index), which ranks the state 46th. But that's beside the point.

The prison cost involves the high level of security, medical care for the prisoners....so $110 is probably a pretty good bargain. However, I do agree we have way too many Americans in prison. We need to decriminalize all drug use and instead put the money into drug treatment programs, but the Right Wingers don't like that idea.

Are you talking about decriminalizing 'getting caught' with whatever illegal drug or making all drugs legal to the point where you can buy them over the counter?

Isn't that like decriminalizing murder and then putting the money into buying more funeral homes?

Decriminalization meaning that we don't throw drug users in prison. It's pretty straight forward.

Edited July 15, 2009 by Col. 'Bat' Guano

[peejay 327]

Nick,

Your numbers for school costs are not very accurate. The state of CA spends just over $7,000 per student (based on the geographical cost of education index), which ranks the state 46th. But that's beside the point.

The prison cost involves the high level of security, medical care for the prisoners....so $110 is probably a pretty good bargain. However, I do agree we have way too many Americans in prison. We need to decriminalize all drug use and instead put the money into drug treatment programs, but the Right Wingers don't like that idea.

Are you talking about decriminalizing 'getting caught' with whatever illegal drug or making all drugs legal to the point where you can buy them over the counter?

Isn't that like decriminalizing murder and then putting the money into buying more funeral homes?

Decriminalization meaning that we don't throw drug users in prison. It's pretty straight forward.

Dope users and dope dealers are two different situations. People that get caught with a quantity of narcotics that indicates trafficking and/or selling should be in jail. Sometimes dope users sell dope to fund their habit. We can't give people a free ride that do that. Junkies also commit other crimes to fund their habit in addition to narcotics violations. We can't let that slide either.

In the end I really don't care whether users go to jail or to rehab. To me the bottom line is whatever is most cost effective. Junkies dry out in prison if they don't have ready access to money or dope. But as is sometimes the case, dope can be had in prison too. There are a lot of variables involved.

[almaty 19]

brother peejay, a true fact is that most prisons have longer and more comprehensive treatment for users than the " free" public domain

[Peikko 1,575]

If you don't address the reasons behind the addiction, simply 'drying out' isn't going to solve the problem. Rehab for drug users should be the first course of action. If jail time is then needed because of other violations, then so be it.

[almaty 19]

i agree, sister purple..most states have deverted $$$ for treatment into the prison programs....

[Peikko 1,575]

Make sense. Of course you would also have to offer rehab to those who are too poor to pay for it themselves or people will simply offend in order to get treatment.

[almaty 19]

sister, treatment use to globalized..that is..everyone got the same treatment////in the last 15 years..treatment is individualized..that is, what is needed is used and what is not..is not

..prison is the over-all global appraoch and in allot of ways exposes the inmate to a full realm of objectives and mileu and interventions..in the private sector/public sector..treatment is quick and at times, scattered...too many mental health professionals, with limited chemical dependency experiences trying to make a client fit the classic mental health definition...that is, etoh/drug use is a variable for depression..anxiety..etc..

Make sense. Of course you would also have to offer rehab to those who are too poor to pay for it themselves or people will simply offend in order to get treatment.

[SMOKE 1,426]

Nick,

Your numbers for school costs are not very accurate. The state of CA spends just over $7,000 per student (based on the geographical cost of education index), which ranks the state 46th. But that's beside the point.

The prison cost involves the high level of security, medical care for the prisoners....so $110 is probably a pretty good bargain. However, I do agree we have way too many Americans in prison. We need to decriminalize all drug use and instead put the money into drug treatment programs, but the Right Wingers don't like that idea.

i think i would qualify as a 'right winger'. you're right, that idea sucks!!...the all part anyway.

marijauna-sure legalize & tax it....we'd get more dui cases in the court system + twinkes & cheetos might be harder to come by...but we can deal w/ that.

coke, meth, heroin..etc. (chemically manufactured drugs)-nope. they all have a way of making an addict do almost anything to get them....the crime rate would soar if access to those drugs were made easier & not carry detention term for possession.

[alienlovechild 75]

Lots of the usual opinions with little regard to the facts.

We need to decriminalize all drug use and instead put the money into drug treatment programs, but the Right Wingers don't like that idea.

"Actually, only 5 percent of inmates in federal prison on drug charges are incarcerated for drug possession. In our state prisons, it’s somewhat higher—about 27% of drug offenders. In New York, which has received criticism from some because of its tough Rockefeller drug laws, it is estimated that 97% of drug felons sentenced to prison were charged with sale or intent to sell, not simply possession."

Make sense. Of course you would also have to offer rehab to those who are too poor to pay for it themselves or people will simply offend in order to get treatment.

"In July of 2002, the Ohio Judicial Conference conducted a survey of a select group of judges. The results from the survey demonstrated that judges “offer treatment to virtually 100 percent of first-time drug offenders and over 95 percent of second-time drug offenders.” According to the survey, these percentages are accurate throughout the state, no matter the jurisdiction or county size."

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/demand/speakout/10so.htm