We're #1... in prisoners
By Byron LaMasters
The Houston Chronicle reports:
A federal study released Thursday shows that Texas led the nation in the number of inmates incarcerated in state prisons and county jails in June 2003.
Texas had 164,222 inmates on the last day of that month, about 800 more than California. The Texas inmate population was up by 4.2 percent, or 6,578 inmates, from June 2002, according to the study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Although Texas had the most inmates incarcerated from 1999-2001, according to the bureau's midyear reports, California edged ahead of the Lone Star State in June 2002.
Texas' June 2003 incarceration rate also was the highest in the nation, with 692 inmates per 100,000 population. Mississippi ran a close second with an incarceration rate of 688 per 100,000 residents.
Though the number of people incarcerated in California was almost the same as in Texas, California's incarceration rate was far lower: 455 inmates per 100,000 residents. Nationally, the average number of sentenced inmates incarcerated was 480 per 100,000 U.S. residents.
Let's see. We incarcerate more prisoners (total and per capita) than any other country, yet Dallas is still #1 in crime (ok, I'll admit that this is partially due to local circumstances and politics at play). I'm all for locking up violent criminals and all, but I think it's silly to lock people up for minor drug offenses. It's our tax money being spent to put people who are not a danger to society (just to themselves) in jail for decades. Why?
Posted by Byron LaMasters at May 28, 2004 04:28 PM
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We build fewer and fewer schools and libraries, so it is no surprise that we build more and more prisons. Any elementary school teacher can tell you that.
Definitely f-'d up priorities - but then again, there are consequences to voting Republican.
