Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006
Record Number of Americans Jailed
The Justice Department reported in November that a record 7 million people — or one in every 32 adults in the U.S. — were behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of last year. Some 2.2 million Americans were in prison or jail on Dec. 31. 2005, but there was little coverage of this population's 2.7% rise from the previous year or of its eight-fold increase since 1975. Nor was there much discussion of overcrowding (the federal prison system is operating at 34% over capacity) or of the cost associated with keeping so many people behind bars (it costs more than $20,000 per year for every person incarcerated).