Growth of prison population reveals moral failure.
By BRIAN GILMORE
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
12/10/2006

There are too many people in prison in the United States. In fact, we incarcerate more people per capita than any other nation in the world. On Nov. 29, the Department of Justice noted that nearly 2.2 million people are in federal and state prisons in this country.
Increases in the prison population have continued despite recent decreases in crime rates, as well as sentencing reforms in some states.

One major reason for the increase is the U.S. government's unsuccessful war on drugs. According to the nonprofit organization Human Rights Watch, this war is "the single greatest force behind the growth of the prison population."

By 2000, more than 450,000 individuals were incarcerated in the United States for drug offenses, roughly the size of the entire U.S. prison and jail population of 1980, according to the nonprofit Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice.

In state prisons, 20 percent of all prisoners are currently in jail for drug offenses. In fact, state prison populations doubled from 1990 until 2004.

Federal prison numbers are even more pathetic. More than 55 percent of those currently in federal prisons are incarcerated for a drug offense, according to the nonprofit Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

U.S. spending on incarceration increased by more than 1,500 percent between 1977 and 1999, reports the Justice Policy Institute. By contrast, educational spending during this period increased by only 370 percent.

Congress must make the issue of skyrocketing prison populations a priority. And to do that, it must address the underlying causes.

First, it should shift funding from prisons and incarceration into schools and professional training.

Second, it should immediately repeal mandatory minimum sentences for low-level drug offenders.

Third, Congress and local and state governments should abandon planned prison construction projects. Prison should be only for the violent and the predatory.

The government ought to provide education, job training and higher education assistance for those in prison who want to go to college or trade school. It does no good to deprive inmates of the skills they will need when they eventually get out.

It is a moral failure to incarcerate more than 2 million people. Congress must act now.


Brian Gilmore is a writer for Progressive Media Project in Madison, Wis. 53703.



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Treetops Reviewed by Treetops on . Interesting read... Growth of prison population reveals moral failure. By BRIAN GILMORE MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE 12/10/2006 There are too many people in prison in the United States. In fact, we incarcerate more people per capita than any other nation in the world. On Nov. 29, the Department of Justice noted that nearly 2.2 million people are in federal and state prisons in this country. Increases in the prison population have continued despite recent decreases in crime rates, as well as Rating: 5