1 In 32 Americans In Jails, On Parole

[Gold9472]

1 in 32 Americans in jails, on parole

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

By KASIE HUNT
Associated Press Writer
11/30/2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A record 7 million people - or one in every 32 American adults - were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to a report released Wednesday.

More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are increasing more.

Men still far outnumber women in prisons and jails, but the female population is growing faster. Over the past year, the female population in state or federal prison increased 2.6 percent while the number of male inmates rose 1.9 percent. By year's end, 7 percent of all inmates were women. The gender figures do not include inmates in local jails.

"Today's figures fail to capture incarceration's impact on the thousands of children left behind by mothers in prison," Marc Mauer, the executive director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group supporting criminal justice reform, said in a statement. "Misguided policies that create harsher sentences for nonviolent drug offenses are disproportionately responsible for the increasing rates of women in prisons and jails."

From 1995 to 2003, inmates in federal prison for drug offenses have accounted for 49 percent of total prison population growth.

The numbers are from the annual report from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report breaks down inmate populations for state and federal prisons and local jails.

Racial disparities among prisoners persist. In the 25-29 age group, 8.1 percent of black men - about one in 13 - are incarcerated, compared with 2.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.1 percent of white men. And it's not much different among women. By the end of 2005, black women were more than twice as likely as Hispanics and over three times as likely as white women to be in prison.

Certain states saw more significant changes in prison population. In South Dakota, the number of inmates increased 11 percent over the past year, more than any other state. Montana and Kentucky were next in line with increases of 10.4 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively. Georgia had the biggest decrease, losing 4.6 percent, followed by Maryland with a 2.4 percent decrease and Louisiana with a 2.3 percent drop.

[beltman713]

I heard this on the radio today, unbelievable.

[AuGmENTor]

Heh, up until last december, I was one of those 1 in 32. I did 6 years on probation. My PO said she was sad that they didn't have an award to give me for being the person arrested the most (14 times) without going to jail. All 14 arrests were while I was on probation. It's all about money to these guys. Once you get into the system, you keep them in business. There's another statistic taht cites some ridiculous number of people, who once they are in the parole probation system, almost invariably end up in jail.

[PhilosophyGenius]

I was on probation a few years ago.

[PhilosophyGenius]

Dang Aug, 14 arrests on probation an no prison! Dang.

[AuGmENTor]

Dang Aug, 14 arrests on probation an no prison! Dang.

And some of them were good ones. 2nd degree criminal posession of an explosive device is my favorite. A few assaults (one of them in the probation bldg) and just a bunch of other shit.
Once I was screaming at my PO so much that the sherrifs removed me from the bldg (no arrest) and when I got home I called her voicemail, and screamed some more. THEN I got arrested, turns out it's a crime to threaten a law enforcement officer.
When probation was over, I gave that woman a hug, as I believe she helped to save my life by hounding me so much. Someday I'll tell yas why I was on in the first place.
Sidebar: I spent ALOT of money in legal fees to stay out of the pokey. And I do mean an obscene amount of cash.

[PhilosophyGenius]

Dang that's crazy. I guess your military backround helped you out with the explosives charge.

[AuGmENTor]

Not really. My lawyer said is was BS, I mean, they were fireworks (but the BIG kind) and it was on a school with a big field. In that town, EVERYONE meets at this field and shoots off fireworks. They ARE illeagal in NY, but on the 4th, the cops just kinda look the other way. Problem was, I kinda lost track of my days, and went on the 7th of July (In retrospect, it was kinda uncrowded) See, I was in South Carolina for the forth, but I kinda forgot taht, and went to town to show off the high grade crap I had gotten down south. (you'd have to be a big time drunk to understand this) And then one of them got stuck in the launch device, and set off a bunch of the others and started a small fire. Big commercial fireworks are detonated electronically. I'm not sophisticated, so i just ran different length fuses to get a staggered launch. Disaster ensued, and I was arrested.
My lawyer told them some big story about post tramatic stress disorder, and they reduced it to a violation level charge. I wasn't a big explosives kinda guy in the army, I drove a truck.