Report: 1 In Every 99 Americans Now Behind Bars

U.S. Spent More Than $49 Billion On Corrections In 2007

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― Don't ask the U.S. prison system if this is indeed "the land of the free."

For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population.

The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 -- one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world.

By contrast, in mid 2002 the ratio was 1 in 142, with the prison population surpassing 2 million for the first time.

The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," said the report.

Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said budget woes are prompting officials in many states to consider new, cost-saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the recent past for fear of appearing soft in crime.

"We're seeing more and more states being creative because of tight budgets," she said in an interview. "They want to be tough on crime, they want to be a law-and-order state -- but they also want to save money, and they want to be effective."

The report cited Kansas and Texas as states which have acted decisively to slow the growth of their inmate population. Their actions include greater use of community supervision for low-risk offenders and employing sanctions other than reimprisonment for ex-offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation rules.

"The new approach, born of bipartisan leadership, is allowing the two states to ensure they have enough prison beds for violent offenders while helping less dangerous lawbreakers become productive, taxpaying citizens," the report said.

While many state governments have shown bipartisan interest in curbing prison growth, there also are persistent calls to proceed cautiously.

"We need to be smarter," said David Muhlhausen, a criminal justice expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. "We're not incarcerating all the people who commit serious crimes -- but we're also probably incarcerating people who don't need to be."

According to the report, the inmate population increased last year in 36 states and the federal prison system.

The largest percentage increase -- 12 percent -- was in Kentucky, where Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget speech last month. He noted that the state's crime rate had increased only about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state's inmate population has increased by 600 percent.

The Pew report was compiled by the Center on the State's Public Safety Performance Project, which is working directly with 13 states on developing programs to divert offenders from prison without jeopardizing public safety.

"For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn't been a clear and convincing return for public safety," said the project's director, Adam Gelb. "More and more states are beginning to rethink their reliance on prisons for lower-level offenders and finding strategies that are tough on crime without being so tough on taxpayers."

The report said prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime or in the nation's overall population. Instead, it said, more people are behind bars mainly because of tough sentencing measures, such as "three-strikes" laws, that result in longer prison stays.

"For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling," the report said. "While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine."

The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails -- a total 2,319,258 out of almost 230 million American adults.

The report said the United States is the world's incarceration leader, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which make up the rest of the Top 10.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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"They must find it difficult...Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than the truth as authority"

I just read this. What a waste of money. We need to get some of the non violent drug offenders out!! This is just crazy!

hahahah thats a big rate man ! !!!!!

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Exactly how is that funny?

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If you read this, you have to smoke a joint

well this actually makes me feel good in a way, if 1 in 30 of my fellow peers are locked up, I guess I wont mind it so much if they send me up the river too. well not as much as i would it only like 1 in a million of my peer were locked up. i have strange brain

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"They must find it difficult...Those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than the truth as authority"

But I'm sure you agree there's no humor in an oppressive government

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If you read this, you have to smoke a joint

We Need Change!!!!!!!!

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"Dont gimme no bammer weed, we dont smoke that shit in the SFC"
SFC = Sucker Free City Californians mess with DANK!

ever heard of laughing cuz it sounds so crazy ... well now u have

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I bet a lot of them are in for marijuana charges see if they stop putting good people in jail for retarded reasons they would not have this problem and they would be able to focus those dollars on real areas of crime like rape, murder,and child abuse But no they decide that spending a shit load of money is worth taking 1 gram off the street. to "keep our kids safe"

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Warning: marijuana may contain a substantial amount of non-tobacco ingredients.
Save a tree, eat a beaver

wow 1 in 9 black men ages 20- 34 in jail i knew the number was high but that is just vulgar