Prisons Grew By 900 Inmates Per Week In 2004

[Gold9472]

Prisons grew by 900 inmates per week in 2004
Government report says 2.1 million behind bars in U.S.

The Associated Press
Updated: 7:15 p.m. ET April 24, 2005

WASHINGTON - Growing at a rate of about 900 inmates each week between mid-2003 and mid-2004, the nation’s prisons and jails held 2.1 million people, or one in every 138 U.S. residents, the government reported Sunday.

By last June 30, there were 48,000 more inmates, or 2.3 percent, more than the year before, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The total inmate population has hovered around 2 million for the past few years, reaching 2.1 million on June 30, 2002, and just below that mark a year later.

While the crime rate has fallen over the past decade, the number of people in prison and jail is outpacing the number of inmates released, said the report’s co-author, Paige Harrison. For example, the number of admissions to federal prisons in 2004 exceeded releases by more than 8,000, the study found.

'Three-strikes' laws
Harrison said the increase can be attributed largely to get-tough policies enacted in the 1980s and 1990s. Among them are mandatory drug sentences, “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” laws for repeat offenders, and “truth-in-sentencing” laws that restrict early releases.

“As a whole most of these policies remain in place,” she said. “These policies were a reaction to the rise in crime in the ’80s and early 90s.”

Added Malcolm Young, executive director of the Sentencing Project, which promotes alternatives to prison: “We’re working under the burden of laws and practices that have developed over 30 years that have focused on punishment and prison as our primary response to crime.”

He said many of those incarcerated are not serious or violent offenders, but are low-level drug offenders. Young said one way to help lower the number is to introduce drug treatment programs that offer effective ways of changing behavior and to provide appropriate assistance for the mentally ill.

Highest incarceration rate
According to the Justice Policy Institute, which advocates a more lenient system of punishment, the United States has a higher rate of incarceration than any other country, followed by Britain, China, France, Japan and Nigeria.

There were 726 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents by June 30, 2004, compared with 716 a year earlier, according to the report by the Justice Department agency. In 2004, one in every 138 U.S. residents was in prison or jail; the previous year it was one in every 140.

In 2004, 61 percent of prison and jail inmates were of racial or ethnic minorities, the government said. An estimated 12.6 percent of all black men in their late 20s were in jails or prisons, as were 3.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.7 percent of white men in that age group, the report said.

Other findings include:

State prisons held about 2,500 youths under 18 in 2004. That compares with a peak, in 1995, of about 5,300. Local jails held about 7,000 youths, down from 7,800 in 1995.

In the year ending last June 30, 13 states reported an increase of at least 5 percent in the federal system, led by Minnesota, at about 13 percent; Montana at 10.5 percent; Arkansas at 9 percent.

Among the 12 states that reported a decline in the inmate population were Alabama, 7 percent; Connecticut, 2.5 percent; and Ohio, 2 percent.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[princesskittypoo]

Prisons grew by 900 inmates per week in 2004
Government report says 2.1 million behind bars in U.S.

The Associated Press
Updated: 7:15 p.m. ET April 24, 2005

WASHINGTON - Growing at a rate of about 900 inmates each week between mid-2003 and mid-2004, the nation?s prisons and jails held 2.1 million people, or one in every 138 U.S. residents, the government reported Sunday.

By last June 30, there were 48,000 more inmates, or 2.3 percent, more than the year before, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The total inmate population has hovered around 2 million for the past few years, reaching 2.1 million on June 30, 2002, and just below that mark a year later.

While the crime rate has fallen over the past decade, the number of people in prison and jail is outpacing the number of inmates released, said the report?s co-author, Paige Harrison. For example, the number of admissions to federal prisons in 2004 exceeded releases by more than 8,000, the study found.

'Three-strikes' laws
Harrison said the increase can be attributed largely to get-tough policies enacted in the 1980s and 1990s. Among them are mandatory drug sentences, ?three-strikes-and-you?re-out? laws for repeat offenders, and ?truth-in-sentencing? laws that restrict early releases.

?As a whole most of these policies remain in place,? she said. ?These policies were a reaction to the rise in crime in the ?80s and early 90s.?

Added Malcolm Young, executive director of the Sentencing Project, which promotes alternatives to prison: ?We?re working under the burden of laws and practices that have developed over 30 years that have focused on punishment and prison as our primary response to crime.?

He said many of those incarcerated are not serious or violent offenders, but are low-level drug offenders. Young said one way to help lower the number is to introduce drug treatment programs that offer effective ways of changing behavior and to provide appropriate assistance for the mentally ill.

Highest incarceration rate
According to the Justice Policy Institute, which advocates a more lenient system of punishment, the United States has a higher rate of incarceration than any other country, followed by Britain, China, France, Japan and Nigeria.

There were 726 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents by June 30, 2004, compared with 716 a year earlier, according to the report by the Justice Department agency. In 2004, one in every 138 U.S. residents was in prison or jail; the previous year it was one in every 140.

In 2004, 61 percent of prison and jail inmates were of racial or ethnic minorities, the government said. An estimated 12.6 percent of all black men in their late 20s were in jails or prisons, as were 3.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.7 percent of white men in that age group, the report said.

Other findings include:

State prisons held about 2,500 youths under 18 in 2004. That compares with a peak, in 1995, of about 5,300. Local jails held about 7,000 youths, down from 7,800 in 1995.

In the year ending last June 30, 13 states reported an increase of at least 5 percent in the federal system, led by Minnesota, at about 13 percent; Montana at 10.5 percent; Arkansas at 9 percent.

Among the 12 states that reported a decline in the inmate population were Alabama, 7 percent; Connecticut, 2.5 percent; and Ohio, 2 percent.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I think the rise in incarceration could also be attributed to the decline in education.... but that's just my opinion.

[Gold9472]

I think the rise in incarceration could also be attributed to the decline in education.... but that's just my opinion.

WOW You hit the nail on the head...

Catherine Austine Fitts, served as Managing Director and Member of the Board of Directors of the Wall Street investment bank, Dillon, Read & Co., Inc in the 1980s. She then served as Assistant Secretary of Housing/Federal Housing Commissioner at HUD in the first Bush Administration and was the President and Founder of Hamilton Securities Group, Inc., a broker-dealer/investment bank and software developer that successfully completed $12 billion of transactions and $500 billion of portfolio strategy prototyping the “Solari model”. Catherine has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from The Wharton School, and studied Chinese at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Catherine serves on the advisory board of Sanders Research Associates in London and publishes a column, Mapping the Real Deal, in Scoop Media in New Zealand.

[princesskittypoo]

WOW You hit the nail on the head...

Catherine Austine Fitts, served as Managing Director and Member of the Board of Directors of the Wall Street investment bank, Dillon, Read & Co., Inc in the 1980s. She then served as Assistant Secretary of Housing/Federal Housing Commissioner at HUD in the first Bush Administration and was the President and Founder of Hamilton Securities Group, Inc., a broker-dealer/investment bank and software developer that successfully completed $12 billion of transactions and $500 billion of portfolio strategy prototyping the ?Solari model?. Catherine has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from The Wharton School, and studied Chinese at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Catherine serves on the advisory board of Sanders Research Associates in London and publishes a column, Mapping the Real Deal, in Scoop Media in New Zealand.

is she in jail?

[Gold9472]

Catherine Austine Fitts developed what's known as the "Solari Index"...

She was born and raised in West Philadelphia... at the time, it was unthinkable that a child couldn't walk from his/her house, to the corner store for an ice cream cone.

At that time, the Dow Industrial was at about 500.

Today, in the same area, crime is VERY high, and a parent wouldn't think of letting their kids rome the streets.

The Dow Industrial is at 10,000+.

The more money the rich make, the more poverty, crime, loss of education, etc... we have.

[princesskittypoo]

Catherine Austine Fitts developed what's known as the "Solari Index"...

She was born and raised in West Philadelphia... at the time, it was unthinkable that a child couldn't walk from his/her house, to the corner store for an ice cream cone.

At that time, the Dow Industrial was at about 500.

Today, in the same area, crime is VERY high, and a parent wouldn't think of letting their kids rome the streets.

The Dow Industrial is 10,000+.

The more money the rich make, the more poverty, crime, loss of education, etc... we have.

You can have education without being rich. Or having money that is... education is free. go to the library. the problem being we are too lazy to get up from our tv's to read books.... myself included at times.... nothing is so cut and dry... we have to want to be educated.

[Gold9472]

You can have education without being rich. Or having money that is... education is free. go to the library. the problem being we are too lazy to get up from our tv's to read books.... myself included at times.... nothing is so cut and dry... we have to want to be educated.

But if there's more crime, that means there's more kids not going to school, staying on the streets, etc...

[princesskittypoo]

But if there's more crime, that means there's more kids not going to school, staying on the streets, etc...

yeah... latch key kids... no one's at home to make sure they go to school... get educated... one problem might be because they're parents are in jail... or just working... it's a circle we get ourselves into.