U.S. Prison Population Is Soaring

According to this article, there was an increase of approximately 900 inmates each week in 2004 even though the crime rate has fallen over the past decade. Surprisingly, the nationwide prison population totals 2.1 million people, while, statistically speaking, it appears that 1 in every 138 Americans is behind bars.

In fact the number of newly imprisoned people in federal prisons has exceeded releases by 8000. Apparently the increase is due to the newer, tougher laws of the 80's and 90's.

Additionally, the article states that the U.S. has a higher incarceration rate than Britain, China, France, Japan or Nigeria. And of all the states, Minnesota has the largest increase in prison population.

The fact is that some of you may already have an opinion about the reason(s) things are the way they are or, like me, you may feel the need for more information to substantiate reasons our great nation is faltering.