The Reuters news agency reports on America's dirty little secret: We have more prisoners than China. Only the well informed would know this fact, and thankfully that includes most members of Daily Kos. What can the Democratic Party do about this major problem.
U.S. prison population continued to grow in 2004
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. prison population, already the largest in the world, grew by 1.9 percent in 2004, leaving federal jails at 40 percent over capacity, according to Justice Department figures released on Sunday.
Inmates in federal, state, local and other prisons totaled nearly 2.3 million at the end of last year, the government said.
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Why do we have more prisoners than China? Why are American prisoners kept in crowded jails, which are at "over 40 percent over capacity?" Why are prisoners being exposed to conditions that can lead to more abuses and even incidents similar to Abu Ghraib?
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that:
At yearend 2004 there were 3,218 black male sentenced prison inmates per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,220 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males and 463 white male inmates per 100,000 white males.
Source: The Bureau of Justice Statistics. Summary findings
The odds are simply stacked against minority males. Statistics like the one above undermine my faith in my country and in the fairness of the criminal justice system. When you look beyond the numbers, you will see that families have been broken apart, and entire communities have been torn asunder because millions of men were thrown in prison.
Has this country simply forgotten about rehabilitating prisoners? Why has so little effort been devoted to meeting this goal? How did this all happen? Why did we let it happen here?
Note: I was born years after the infamous Proposition 13 passed in California and swept the nation. My memories of the Reagan years are sketchy at best- so I don't know how this happened. Can anybody shed some light on this?