[Marxism] 1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says

[Bonnie Weinstein <giobon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says

By ADAM LIPTAK

February 28, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/28cnd-prison.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

 

For the first time in the nation¹s history, more than one in 100 American
adults is behind bars, according to a new report.

 

Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to
almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are in local jails. The number of
American adults is about 230 million, meaning that one in every 99.1 adults
is behind bars.

 

Incarceration rates are even higher for some groups. One in 36 Hispanic
adults is behind bars, based on Justice Department figures for 2006. One in
15 black adults is, too, as is one in nine black men between the ages of 20
and 34.

 

The report, from the Pew Center on the States, also found that only one in
355 white women between the ages of 35 and 39 is behind bars, but that one
in 100 black women is.

 

The report¹s methodology differed from that used by the Justice Department,
which calculates the incarceration rate by using the total population rather
than the adult population as the denominator. Using the department¹s
methodology, about one in 130 Americans is behind bars.

 

Either way, said Susan Urahn, the center¹s managing director, ³we aren¹t
really getting the return in public safety from this level of
incarceration.²

 

³We tend to be a country in which incarceration is an easy response to
crime,² Ms. Urahn continued. ³Being tough on crime is an easy position to
take, particularly if you have the money. And we did have the money in the
¹80s and ¹90s.²

 

Now, with fewer resources available to the states, the report said, ³prison
costs are blowing a hole in state budgets.² On average, states spend almost
7 percent on their budgets on corrections, trailing only healthcare,
education and transportation.

 

In 2007, according to the National Association of State Budgeting Officers,
states spent $44 billion in tax dollars on corrections. That is up from
$10.6 billion in 1987, a 127 increase once adjusted for inflation. With
money from bond issues and from the federal government included, total state
spending on corrections last year was $49 billion. By 2011, the report said,
states are on track to spend an additional $25 billion.

 

It cost an average of $23,876 to imprison someone in 2005, the most recent
year for which data is available. But state spending varies widely, from
$45,000 a year for each inmate in Rhode Island to just $13,000 in Louisiana.

 

The cost of medical care is growing by 10 percent annually, the report said,
a rate that will accelerate as the prison population ages.

 

About one in nine state government employees works in corrections, and some
states are finding it hard to fill those jobs. California spent more than
$500 million on overtime alone in 2006.

 

The number of prisoners in California dropped by 4,000 last year, making
Texas¹s prison system the nation¹s largest, at about 172,000 inmates. But
the Texas legislature approved broad changes to the state¹s corrections
system, including expansions of drug treatment programs and drug courts and
revisions to parole practices.

 

³Our violent offenders, we lock them up for a very long time ? rapists,
murderers, child molestors,² said John Whitmire, a Democratic state senator
from Houston and the chairman of the state senate¹s criminal justice
committee. ³The problem was that we weren¹t smart about nonviolent
offenders. The legislature finally caught up with the public.²

 

He gave an example.

 

³We have 5,500 D.W.I offenders in prison,² he said, including people caught
driving under the influence who had not been in an accident. ³They¹re in the
general population. As serious as drinking and driving is, we should
segregate them and give them treatment.²

 

The Pew report recommended diverting nonviolent offenders away from prison
and using punishments short of reincarceration for minor or technical
violations of probation or parole. It also urged states to consider earlier
release of some prisoners.

 

Before the recent changes in Texas, Mr. Whitmire said, ³we were recycling
nonviolent offenders.²


________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism