International Law

Weaning America off prison

By John Hirst

In the United States, a country addicted to jail, there are now more people behind bars than there are farmers

The question: What good is prison?

The above link begins Prison Week asking the age old question. And, the link below is one writer's view of the answer, at least as far as our American cousins are concerned.

The land of the free has become the land of the jailed. Between 1973 and 2000 the rate of incarceration in the United States more than quadrupled. There are more people behind bars (literally and proportionally) than any time in American history. One in every 32 adults is currently on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole. There are more prisoners than farmers. There are more prisoners than there are Lutherans. There are more prisoners than there are Native Americans. The United States currently has a higher percentage of our population in prison than any other nation.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on November 19, 2008 (boomark / email).