Thanks to the war on drugs and the Federal Govt, Corporate owned prisons are one of the fastest growing businesses in this country.

(prisons & jails - writ of habeas corpus)
"By way of background, the writ of habeas corpus is a venerable legal
procedure that allows a prisoner to get a hearing before an impartial
judge. If the jailer is able to supply a valid legal basis for the
arrest and imprisonment at the hearing, the judge will simply order the
prisoner to be returned to jail. But if the judge discovers that the
imprisonment is illegal, he has the power to set the prisoner free. For
that reason, the Framers of the American Constitution routinely referred
to this legal procedure as the “Great Writ” because it was considered
one of the great safeguards of individual liberty."

(prisons & jails - detention until trial)
"In the U.S., when a person is charged with an offense they may be
detained in jail until their trial or they may be released to await
their trial in the community through a variety of mechanisms which will
be discussed later. In many other nations, people are said to be
“remanded,” which is a summons to appear before a judge at a later date.
If they are not released pretrial they can be “remanded to custody”
until their court proceeding; if they are convicted, they can be
remanded to custody prior to sentencing or during an appeal process."

(prisons & jails - pretrial detention) "Pretrial detention is associated with a higher likelihood of both being found guilty³⁵ and receiving a sentence of incarceration over probation,³⁶
thus forcing a person further into the criminal justice system. In the
United States, this is particularly important because of the sheer
numbers: with 20 percent of the total number of people incarcerated
being pretrial, that means nearly 500,000 people each year are more
likely to be found guilty and sentenced to incarceration, thus
significantly adding to the total number of people in prison."

(prisons & jails - parole - definition) “Parole
is a period of conditional supervised release in the community
following a prison term. It includes parolees released through
discretionary or mandatory supervised release from prison, those
released through other types of post-custody conditional supervision,
and those sentenced to a term of supervised release.”

(prisons & jails - probation - definition) “Probation
is a court-ordered period of correctional supervision in the community,
generally as an alternative to incarceration. In some cases, probation
can be a combined sentence of incarceration followed by a period of
community supervision.”

(prisons & jails - historical climb in prison population)
"The prison population began to climb in the late 1970s as states and
the federal government cracked down on crime. One turning point was New
York State’s 1973 imposition of mandatory sentencing laws for drug
offenses, under the administration of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.⁴⁰
Other states followed. Initiatives included mandatory sentences for
repeat armed career criminals. Congress, in the Sentencing Reform Act of
1984 (18 U.S.C. 3651), repealed federal courts’ authority to suspend
criminal sentences and made other changes.⁴¹ In 1994,
California voters and legislators approved Proposition 184, the
so-called Three Strikes Law. Among other things, the law set a minimum
sentence of 25 years to life for three-time offenders with prior serious
or violent felony convictions.⁴²"

Prisons & Jails - Data

(2011 - prisons & jails - U.S. incarceration comparisons) "The U.S. incarcerates nearly 2.4 million people,¹³
including people held pretrial and those sentenced for an offense; if
they were all in one state, it would be the 36th most populated, between
New Mexico and Nevada.¹⁴ No other country in the world
incarcerates as many people as the United States. China, a country of
1.3 billion people—about four times as many people as the U.S.¹⁵—is second, incarcerating 1.6 million people.¹⁶

(2011 - prisons & jails - Federal Bureau of Prisons budget)
"The budget request for FY 2011 totals $6,803.5 million, which includes
$6,533.8 million for Salaries and Expenses and $269.7 million for
Buildings and Facilities. This represents a 9.9 percent increase over FY
2010 Enacted."

(1999-2010 - prisons & jails - lobbying by private prison companies)
"Certain private prison companies, according to a recent report by
Detention Watch Network, spend large sums of money to lobby the House of
Representatives, the Senate, and several federal agencies, including
the Federal Bureau of Prisons (which incarcerates over 200,000 prisoners
at any given time) and the Department of Homeland Security (which
detains over 30,000 immigrants at any given time).²³⁸
According to nonprofit groups, CCA alone spent over $18 million on
federal lobbying between 1999 and 2009, “often employing five or six
firms at the same time,”²³⁹ and in 2010, CCA spent another $970,000 lobbying the federal government."

(2010 - prisons & jails - over capacity) "The Federal Bureau of Prisons operated at 36% above reported capacity at yearend 2010."

(2010 - prisons & jails - private prisons)
"About 16% of federal prisoners (33,830) and nearly 7% of state
prisoners (94,365) were housed in private facilities on December 31,
2010."

(2010 - prisons & jails - persons under control of U.S. corrections system)
“At yearend 2010, the total number of offenders under the supervision
of the adult correctional authorities represented about 3.0% of adults
in the U.S. resident population, or 1 in every 33 adults. The rate of
adults under correctional supervision has remained relatively stable
since 2000 (3.1%).”

(2010 - prisons & jails - prison population)
"For the first time in nearly 40 years, the number of state prisoners
in the United States has declined. Survey data compiled by the Public
Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States, in
partnership with the Association of State Correctional Administrators,
indicate that as of January 1, 2010, there were 1,404,053 persons under
the jurisdiction of state prison authorities, 4,777 (0.3 percent) fewer
than there were on December 31, 2008.¹ This marks the first year-to-year drop in the state prison population since 1972.

"In this period, however, the nation’s total prison population
increased by 2,061 people because of a jump in the number of inmates
under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The federal
count rose by 6,838 prisoners, or 3.4 percent in 2009, to an all-time
high of 208,118.

"Prior to 1972, the number of prisoners had grown at a steady rate
that closely tracked growth rates in the general population. Between
1925 (the first year national prison statistics were officially
collected) and 1972, the number of state prisoners increased from 85,239
to 174,379.²

"Starting in 1973, however, the prison population and imprisonment
rates began to rise precipitously. This change was fueled by stiffer
sentencing and release laws and decisions by courts and parole boards,
which sent more offenders to prison and kept them there for longer
terms.³ In the nearly five decades between 1925 and 1972, the
prison population increased by 105 percent; in the four decades since,
the number of prisoners grew by 705 percent.⁴ Adding local
jail inmates to state and federal prisoners, the Public Safety
Performance Project calculated in 2008 that the overall incarcerated
population had reached an all-time high, with 1 in 100 adults in the
United States living behind bars.⁵"

(2009 - prisons & jails - per prisoner costs)
"... annual operating costs are $25,500 per federal prisoner, $26,000
per state prisoner and per jail inmate, $2,800 per parolee, and $1,300
per probationer, based on Public Safety Performance Project (2007, 2009)
and authors’ estimates."

(2009 - prisons & jails - size of private prison industry) "Today, private companies imprison roughly 130,000 prisoners³⁴ and, according to one group, 16,000 civil immigration detainees in the United States at any given time.³⁵
As states send more and more people to prison, they funnel ever greater
amounts of taxpayer money to private prison operators. By 2010, annual
revenues of the two top private prison companies alone stood at nearly
$3 billion.³⁶"

Note: The two prison companies are "Corrections Corporation of
America (CCA) and the GEO Group (then called Wackenhut Corrections
Corporation)."

(2009 - prisons & jails - private prison financing)
"... the benefit to counties where private prisons are built and
operated can be quite scant—some receive less than $2 per prisoner per
day from the private prison operator.¹¹⁹ The private prison
companies themselves receive a far greater payoff from the government
entity (such as a state corrections department) whose prisoners the
company incarcerates. For example, private prison operators in Arizona
were paid $63.52 per medium security prisoner per day in 2009,¹²⁰
and as early as 2000, the federal government agreed to pay CCA almost
$90 per day for each detained immigrant at a San Diego facility."

(2009 - prisons & jails - average cost of federal incarceration)
"The fee to cover the average cost of incarceration for Federal inmates
in Fiscal Year 2009 was $25,251. The average annual cost to confine an
inmate in a Community Corrections Center for Fiscal Year 2009 was
$24,758."

(2008 - prisons & jails - prisoner and parolee populations)

"• Growth in the probation population has slowed in recent years to an
average of 0.7% annually between 2003 and 2008 from an average of 2.5%
annually between 2000 and 2003.

• During 2008 growth in the parole population slowed to about a third
of the average annual increase between 2005 and 2007 (2.6%), the
fastest period of growth in the parole population since 2000."

(2008 - prisons & jails - corrections labor force)
"The corrections sector is a large and growing part of the labor force.
According to the Census Bureau, more than 770,000 people worked in the
U.S. correctional industry in 2008.⁶⁰ The U.S. Department of Labor, in its 2010-11 Occupational Outlook Handbook, estimates there were about 620,000 guards, probation officers, prison supervisors and court bailiffs in 2008.⁶¹"

(2008 - prisons & jails - cost data)
"Taxpayers spent about $68.7 billion in 2008 to feed, clothe, and
provide medical care to prisoners in county jails, state and federal
prisons and facilities housing legal and illegal aliens facing possible
deportation.⁴⁶ From 1982 to 2002, state and federal spending
on corrections, not adjusted for inflation, rose by 423%, from $40 to
$209 per U.S. resident.⁴⁷ Corrections spending, as a share of
state budgets, rose faster than health care, education, and natural
resources spending from 1986 to 2001.⁴⁸ The average cost of housing a prisoner for a year was about $24,000 in 2005, though rates vary from state to state.⁴⁹"

(2008 - prisons & jails - cost savings from reducing the incarceration rate)
"We calculate that a reduction by one-half in the incarceration rate of
non-violent offenders would lower correctional expenditures by $16.9
billion per year and return the U.S. to about the same incarceration
rate we had in 1993 (which was already high by historical standards).
The large majority of these savings would accrue to financially squeezed
state and local governments, amounting to about one-fourth of their
annual corrections budgets. As a group, state governments could save
$7.6 billion, while local governments could save $7.2 billion."

(2008 - prisons & jails - world prison populations)
"The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world,
756 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by Russia (629),
Rwanda (604), St Kitts & Nevis (588), Cuba (c.531), U.S. Virgin Is.
(512), British Virgin Is. (488), Palau (478), Belarus (468), Belize
(455), Bahamas (422), Georgia (415), American Samoa (410), Grenada (408)
and Anguilla (401).

"Almost three fifths of countries (59%) have rates below 150 per 100,000.

"The world population in 2008 is estimated at 6,750 million (United
Nations); set against a world prison population of 9.8 million this
produces a world prison population rate of 145 per 100,000 (158 per
100,000 if set against a world prison population of 10.65 million)."

(2007 - prisons & jails - parents in prison)
"An estimated 809,800 prisoners of the 1,518,535 held in the nation's
prisons at midyear 2007 were parents of minor children, or children
under age 18. Parents held in the nation's prisons -- 52% of state
inmates and 63% of federal inmates -- reported having an estimated
1,706,600 minor children, accounting for 2.3% of the U.S. resident
population under age 18."

(2007 - prisons & jails - probation and parole populations)
"... the number of people on probation or parole has skyrocketed to
more than 5 million, up from 1.6 million just 25 years ago. This means
that 1 in 45 adults in the United States is now under criminal justice
supervision in the community, and that combined with those in prison and
jail, a stunning 1 in every 31 adults, or 3.2 percent, is under some
form of correctional control. The rates are drastically elevated for men
(1 in 18) and blacks (1 in 11) and are even higher in some high-crime
inner-city neighborhoods."

(2007 - prisons & jails - prisoner growth per 100,000)
"During 2007, the prison population increased more rapidly than the
U.S. resident population. The imprisonment rate — the number of
sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents — increased from 501 prisoners
per 100,000 U.S. residents in 2006 to 506 prisoners per 100,000 U.S.
residents in 2007. From 2000 through 2007, the imprisonment rate
increased from 475 per 100,000 U.S. residents to 506 per 100,000 U.S.
residents. During these seven years, the number of sentenced prisoners
increased by 15% while the general population increased by 6.4%."

(2006 - prisons & jails - felony convictions in state courts)
"In 2006, an estimated 1,205,273 persons were convicted of a felony
(federal and state courts). Of that number, 1,132,290 were convicted in
state courts, the vast majority (94 percent) of whom pleaded guilty. At
the time of sentencing, about 3 out of 4 felons sentenced (77 percent)
were sentenced for a single felony"

Editor's Note: According to table from which this Fact is
referenced, one third (377,860 or 33.4%) of these convictions were for
"Drug Offenses," with about 45% of them involving "Possession" only.

(2006 - prisons & jails - prison growth rates)
"After increasing 2.8% during 2006, the growth of the prison population
slowed to 1.8% during 2007. The 1.8% increase was slower than the
average annual growth witnessed from 2000 to 2006 (2.0%)."

(2006 - prisons & jails - capacity)
"At yearend 2006, 23 States and the Federal system operated at more
than 100% of their highest capacity. Seventeen States operated at
between 90% and 99% of their highest capacity. The Federal prison system
was operating at 37% above its rated capacity at yearend 2006.

"By comparison, in 1995 States operated at 114% of their highest
capacity and 125% of their lowest reported capacity. The Federal system
was operating at 26% over reported capacity in 1995."

(2006 - prisons & jails - global prison population)
"More than 9.25 million people are held in penal institutions
throughout the world, mostly as pre-trial detainees (remand prisoners)
or as sentenced prisoners. Almost half of these are in the United States
(2.19m), China (1.55m plus pretrial detainees and prisoners in
'administrative detention') or Russia (0.87m)."

According to the US Census Bureau, the population of the US
represents 4.5% of the world's total population (308,749,494 out of a
total 6,804,763,183).

(1970-2005 - prisons & jails - prison growth)
"The United States has adopted a set of criminal justice policies that
has produced a tidal wave of imprisonment in this country. Between 1970
and 2005, the number of men, women, and children locked up in this
country has grown by an historically unprecedented 700%. As a result,
the United States locks up almost a quarter of the prisoners in the
entire world. In fact, if all our prisoners were confined in one city,
that city would be the fourth largest in the country."

(2004 - prisons & jails - parents in prison)
"Thirty-seven percent of parents held in state prison reported living
with at least one of their children in the month before arrest, 44%
reported just prior to incarceration, and 48% reported at either time
(table 7). Mothers were more likely than fathers to report living with
at least one child. More than half of mothers held in state prison
reported living with at least one of their children in the month before
arrest, compared to 36% of fathers. More than 6 in 10 mothers reported
living with their children just prior to incarceration or at either
time, compared to less than half of fathers.

"Parents held in federal prison were more likely than those held in
state prison to report living with a child in the month before arrest,
just prior to incarceration, or at either time (appendix table 7).
Mothers in federal prison were more likely than fathers to report living
with a child."

(2004 - prisons & drug offenders - federal & state - parents in prison)
"Mothers in state prison (58%) were more likely than fathers (49%) to
report having a family member who had also been incarcerated (table 11).
Parents in state prison most commonly reported a brother (34%),
followed by a father (19%). Among mothers in state prison, 13% reported a
sister and 8% reported a spouse. Six percent of fathers reported having
a sister who had also been incarcerated; 2%, a spouse.

"While growing up, 40% of parents in state prison reported living in a
household that received public assistance, 14% reported living in a
foster home, agency, or institution at some time during their youth, and
43% reported living with both parents most of the time (appendix table
11). Mothers (17%) held in state prison were more likely than fathers
(14%) to report living in a foster home, agency, or institution at some
time during their youth. Parents in federal prison reported lower
percentages of growing up in a household that received public assistance
(31%) or living in a foster home, agency, or institution (7%). These
characteristics varied little by gender for parents held in federal
prison.

"More than a third (34%) of parents in state prison reported that
during their youth, their parents or guardians had abused alcohol or
drugs. Mothers in state prison (43%) were more likely than fathers (33%)
to have had this experience. Fewer parents (27%) in federal prison
reported having a parent or a guardian who had abused alcohol or drugs."

(2003 - prisons & jails - educational level of prisoners)
"With the emphasis on law enforcement over education, it is no surprise
that according to the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison
Survey, 37 percent of people in U.S. prisons had not finished high
school. Only 4 out of 10 (41 percent) had a high school education or GED
equivalent; 74 percent had parents who had a high school education or
less; and 26 percent had parents who did not finish high school.¹⁶⁵"

(2003 - prisons & jails - correctional spending)
"In 2003 the United States spent a record $185 billion for police
protection, corrections, and judicial and legal activities. Expenditures
for operating the Nation's justice system increased from almost $36
billion in 1982 to over $185 billion in 2003, an increase of 418%.

"Local governments funded half of all justice system expenses. Another 33% of direct justice funding came from the States.

"Total justice expenditures comprised approximately 7.2% of all State
and local public expenditures in 2003. Compared to justice
expenditures, State and local governments continued to spend almost 4
times as much on education, twice as much on public welfare, and roughly
an equal amount on hospitals and healthcare."

(1998 - prisons & jails - comparative prison population) "[The U.S.] nonviolent prisoner population, alone, is larger than the combined populations of Wyoming and Alaska."

(1997 - prisons & jails - parents in prison)
"A majority of parents in both State (62%) and Federal (84%) prison
were held more than 100 miles from their last place of residence."

Prisons - State and Local

(2010 - prisons & jails - state - spending on corrections)
"State spending on corrections reflects the costs to build and operate
prison systems and may include spending on juvenile justice programs and
alternatives to incarceration such as probation and parole. State
spending for corrections totaled $51.1 billion in fiscal 2010, a 3.2
percent decrease compared to fiscal 2009. State spending on corrections
in fiscal 2011 is estimated to total $51.7 billion, a 1.3 percent
increase from fiscal 2010 but still below fiscal 2009 levels. As with
other areas of the state budget, spending growth on corrections has
slowed considerably due to widespread revenue shortfalls and limited
resources; as recently as fiscal 2007 state spending on corrections grew
by 10.1 percent."

(prisons & jails - state - spending on corrections)

(2010) States spent $51.1 billion on Corrections in
2010 alone. To compare, states spent $164.8 billion on higher education
and only $26.6 billion on public assistance.

(2008) States spent $52 billion on Corrections in
2008 alone. To compare, states spent $158.2 billion on higher education
and only $25.1 billion on public assistance.

(2005) States spent $42.9 billion on Corrections in
2005 alone. To compare, states spent $131.2 billion on higher education
and only $24.7 billion on public assistance.

(2009 - prisons & jails - state - corrections population and violent crime)
"As state prison populations fell, so did the violent crime rate, which
provides further evidence that increased incarceration does not mean
more public safety. Concurrent with the 5.3 percent fall in violent
crime in 2008-2009, state prison populations decreased 0.2 percent, the
first population decrease since 2000.⁴ The number of people
in prison is still growing, but at a slower rate than during the last
few decades and primarily due to increases in federal prison system
population.⁵ The 0.2 percent growth in the total U.S. prison
population during 2009 was the third year of decline in the rate of
growth and the slowest growth in eight years."

(2007 - prisons & jails - state - growth in state prison spending vs. higher education spending)
"In 1987, the states collectively spent $10.6 billion of their general
funds—their primary pool of discretionary tax dollars—on corrections.
Last year, they spent more than $44 billion, a 315 percent jump, data
from the National Association of State Budget Officers show. Adjusted to
2007 dollars, the increase was 127 percent. Over the same period,
adjusted spending on higher education rose just 21 percent."

(2005 - prisons & jails - local jails - suicide in prison)
"Once they [people with drug addiction and mental health disorders] are
incarcerated, researchers have found that the people’s reaction to jail
conditions can exacerbate mental health problems and conditions that
may increase their propensity towards suicidal behavior. Newly jailed
people experience fear of the unknown, distrust of the environment,
isolation from family and significant others, shame and stigma of
incarceration, a loss of stabilizing resources and severe guilt or shame
over the alleged offense. Current mental illness and prior history of
suicidal behavior also intensify in the jail environment.¹⁵⁰
These conditions and stressors conspire to increase the suicide rate in
jails, as compared to the general population. Compared with a U.S.
suicide rate of 17 per 100,000 people, the suicide rate in local jails
is 47 per 100,000 people.¹⁵¹ Suicide is second only to
illness in the leading cause of death in jails: 25 percent of all deaths
in jails in 2006 were suicides.¹⁵²"

(1995-2001 - prisons & jails - state - growth rates in state prison populations)
"The rate of growth of the State prison population slowed between 1995
and 2001 and then began to rise. During this time the percentage change
in the first 6 months of each year steadily decreased, reaching a low of
0.6% in 2001, and then rose to 1.0% in 2005 (table 2). The percentage
change in the second 6 months of each year showed a similar trend,
resulting in an actual decrease in State prison populations for the
second half of 2000 and 2001.

"Since 1995 the Federal system has grown at a much higher rate than
the States, peaking at 6.0% growth in the first 6 months of 1999. In the
first 6 months of 2005, the number of Federal inmates increased 2.3%,
more than twice the rate of State growth."

(2001 - prisons & jails - state - prison costs)
"Correctional authorities spent $38.2 billion to maintain the Nation’s
State correctional systems in fiscal year 2001, including $29.5 billion
specifically for adult correctional facilities. Day-to-day operating
expenses totaled $28.4 billion, and capital outlays for land, new
building, and renovations, $1.1 billion.

"The average annual operating cost per State inmate in 2001 was
$22,650, or $62.05 per day. Among facilities operated by the Federal
Bureau of Prisons, it was $22,632 per inmate, or $62.01 per day."

In constant dollars, expenditures for "Total State Corrections" were
about 2.5 times higher in 2001 than they were in 1986, with the cost per
state resident going from $65 in 1986 to $134 in 2001.

(2000 - prisons & jails - state - increase in prisons)
"Over the last 25 years, the number of state facilities increased from
just fewer than 600 to over 1,000 in the year 2000, an increase of about
70 percent. In other words, more than 40 percent of state prisons in
operation today opened in the last 25 years."

Prisons & Jails - Research

(prisons & jails - research - prison and crime rates)
"While it may seem obvious that locking up more people would lower the
crime rate, the reality is much more complicated. Sentencing and release
policies, not crime rates, determine the numbers of persons in prison.
This point is illustrated by examining what happened to incarceration
rates and crime rates nationally in the period from 1991-1998. ... The
three largest states offer useful examples: Texas experienced a 144%
increase in incarceration with a 35% drop in crime rates, and California
had a 44% rise in its incarceration rate with a 36% drop in crime
rates. In contrast, New York saw its incarceration rate increase by only
24%, yet nonetheless experienced a drop in crime rates of 43%."

(prisons & jails - research - incarceration and crime reduction)
"Incarceration has not been definitively shown to reduce crime rates.
Bruce Western at Harvard University recently found that only 10 percent
of the crime decline in the 1990s was due to increased use of
incarceration.⁷ Between 1998 and 2007, states that had the
greatest increases in incarceration rates did not necessarily see a
corresponding drop in crime rates. Some states (Maryland Massachusetts,
Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas)
lowered their incarceration rates and still experienced a drop in crime
rates.⁸ Such uneven results do not support continued over-reliance on incarceration, particularly in a time of fiscal crisis."

(prisons & jails - research - rape in prison)
"In December 2000, the Prison Journal published a study based on a
survey of inmates in seven men's prison facilities in four states. The
results showed that 21 percent of the inmates had experienced at least
one episode of pressured or forced sexual contact since being
incarcerated, and at least 7 percent had been raped in their facility. A
1996 study of the Nebraska prison system produced similar findings,
with 22 percent of male inmates reporting that they had been pressured
or forced to have sexual contact against their will while incarcerated.
Of these, over 50 percent had submitted to forced anal sex at least
once. Extrapolating these findings to the national level gives a total
of at least 140,000 inmates who have been raped."

(prisons & jails - research - revenue lost from prisoner relocation)
According to a report on prison growth by the Urban Institute's Justice
Policy Center, "Every dollar transferred to a "prison community" is a
dollar that is not given to the home community of a prisoner, which is
often among the country's most disadvantaged urban areas. According to
one account, Cook County Illinois will lose nearly $88 million in
federal benefits over the next decade because residents were counted in
the 2000 Census in their county of incarceration rather than their
county of origin (Duggan 2000). Losing funds from the "relocation" of
prisoners is also an issue for New York City, as two-thirds of state
prisoners are from the city, while 91 percent of prisoners are
incarcerated in upstate counties (Wagner 2002a)."

(prisons & jails - research - limited economic benefits of prison construction)
"The few studies on the local economic impacts of prisons to date have
not found significant positive impacts. For example, a study by the
Sentencing Project challenges the notion that a new prison brings
economic benefits to smaller communities. Using 25 years of data from
New York State rural counties, the authors looked at employment rates
and per capita income and found 'no significant difference or
discernible pattern of economic trends' between counties that were home
to a prison and counties that were not home to a prison (King, Mauer,
and Huling 2003). According to a recent study by Iowa State University,
many towns that made sizeable investments in prisons did not reap the
economic gains that were predicted (Besser 2003). Another analysis in
Texas found no impacts as measured by consumer spending in nearly
three-fourths of the areas examined (Chuang 1998)."

(prisons & jails - research - housing prisoners in other states)
"The effect of prisoner location on population counts may also
influence the allocation of political representation and, therefore,
political influence (Haberman 2000). In Wisconsin, the number of state
prisoners who were housed in other states (known as interstate
transfers) caused concern because these prisoners would be counted in
the decennial census in the states where they were incarcerated. In
1999, U.S. Representative Mark Green introduced a bill (unsuccessfully)
that proposed changes to the census policy so Wisconsin prisoners held
in other states would be counted as Wisconsin residents."

(prisons & jails - research - economic incentive of prisons)
"The economic benefits of new prisons may come from the flow of
additional state and federal dollars. In the decennial census, prisoners
are counted where they are incarcerated, and many federal and state
funding streams are tied to census population counts. According to the
U.S. General Accounting Office (2003), the federal government
distributes over $140 billion in grant money to state and local
governments through formula-based grants. Formula grant money is in part
based on census data and covers programs such as Medicaid, Foster Care,
Adoption Assistance, and Social Services Block Grant (U.S. General
Accounting Office 2003). Within a state, funding for community health
services, road construction and repair, public housing, local law
enforcement, and public libraries are all driven by population counts
from the census."

(prisons & jails - research - prison location)
"Another issue related to prison expansion of the 1980s and 1990s is
the disparity between where prisoners come from ("home counties") and
where prisoners serve their sentences ("prison counties"). Many believe
that the prison construction boom of the last 20 years happened in areas
that were located far away from prisoners' homes. This has been an area
of concern because greater distances between a prisoner's home and
where he or she is incarcerated can negatively impact a prisoner and his
or her family members. Being incarcerated far away from home makes it
more challenging to maintain familial relationships and parent/child
relationships in particular. In addition, challenges related to
reintegrating into the community increase when a prisoner is housed far
away from home. For example, steps that may facilitate prisoner reentry,
such as finding a job and a place to live, are more difficult when a
prisoner is imprisoned a long distance from the place to which he or she
will return after release."

(prisons & jails - research - states with fastest prison growth)
"... the top 10 states ranked from the highest growth to the lowest
growth. They are Texas, Florida, California, New York, Michigan,
Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and Missouri. The magnitude of prison
growth in these 10 states is remarkable. Between 1979 and 2000, the
number of additional prisons ranged from 19 prisons in Missouri to 120
prisons in Texas. The growth in Texas equates to an extraordinary
average annual increase of 5.7 additional prisons per year over the
21-year period. As a group, the 10 states were operating more than three
times as many prisons in 2000 as in 1979—increasing from 195 facilities
to 604 facilities. Figure 6 shows the relative growth in each state in
addition to the absolute growth. In all 10 states, the number of prisons
increased by more than 100 percent over the two decades. States with
the lowest relative growth are Florida, which grew by 115 percent, and
New York, which grew by 117 percent. Texas is again the clear leader
growing by 706 percent over the 21-year period. Indeed, Texas is in a
league of its own, as it added the most prisons (120), currently has the
largest number of prisons in operation (137), and experienced the
largest percentage increase (706 percent)."

(prisons & jails - research - prison construction)
"The prison construction boom was not concentrated in a few, key states
or in certain regions of the country. Prison systems expanded
significantly in states across the country. Prison systems also expanded
within states. The share of counties in the top 10 states that were
home to at least one prison increased from 13 to 31 percent between 1979
and 2000. State level maps (figures 13 to 22) illustrate that new
prisons were geographically dispersed throughout the states. New prisons
were generally not spatially concentrated, as few counties gained three
or more prisons. Finally, prisons expanded into different types of
counties; prisons increased significantly in both non-metro counties and
metro counties."

(prisons & jails - retired General Barry McCaffrey on the 'American gulag')
"We must have law enforcement authorities address the issue because if
we do not, prevention, education, and treatment messages will not work
very well. But having said that, I also believe that we have created an
American gulag."

HIV/AIDS in Prison

(2007 & 2008 - prisons & jails - HIV/AIDS cases and deaths in state and federal prisons)

"• At yearend 2008, a reported 21,987 inmates held in state or federal
prisons were HIV positive or had confirmed AIDS, accounting for 1.5% of
the total custody population.

"• At yearend 2008, 1.5% (20,075) of male inmates and 1.9% (1,912) of
female inmates held in state or federal prisons were HIV positive or
had confirmed AIDS.

"• At yearend 2008 an estimated 5,733 state and federal prisoners had confirmed AIDS.

"• During 2007, 130 state and federal prisoners died from AIDS-related causes."

(2004 - prisons & jails - HIV prevalence in state prisons by drug use) "The percentage of State prison inmates who were HIV positive was —

"1.3% of those who never used drugs

"1.7% of those who had ever used drugs

"1.9% of those who used drugs in the month before their current offense

"2.8% of those who had used a needle to inject drugs

"5.1% of those who had shared a needle.

"Like State inmates, Federal inmates who used a needle and shared a
needle had higher rates of HIV infection than those inmates who reported
ever using drugs or using drugs in the month before their current
offense."

(2004 - prisons & jails - HIV prevalence in state and federal prisons by offense)
"Inmates held on a property offense in State and Federal prisons had
the highest HIV-positive rate (both 2.6%) (table 11). Among State
inmates, public-order offenders (0.9%) were least likely to report being
HIV positive; among Federal prisoners, drug offenders (0.7%) were least
likely to report being HIV positive."

(2004 - prisons & jails - HIV/AIDS in prison)
"In every year since 1991, the rate of confirmed AIDS has been higher
among prison inmates than in the general population (figure 1). At
yearend 2004 the rate of confirmed AIDS in State and Federal prisons was
more than 3 times higher than in the total U.S. population. About 50 in
every 10,000 prison inmates had confirmed AIDS, compared to 15 in
10,000 persons in the U.S. general population."

(2004 - prisons & jails - AIDS deaths deaths in state prisons by region)
"In 2004 for every 100,000 State inmates, 14 died from AIDS-related
causes. The most AIDS-related deaths were reported in the South (84),
followed by the Northeast (60). Together, these two regions accounted
for more than three-quarters of AIDS-related deaths in State prisons."

(2004 - prisons & jails - HIV positive and confirmed AIDS cases in state and federal prisons)
"On December 31, 2004, 1.9% of State prison inmates and 1.1% of Federal
prison inmates were known to be infected with the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Correctional authorities reported that
21,366 State inmates and 1,680 Federal inmates were HIV positive. The
number known to be HIV positive totaled 23,046, downfrom 23,663 at
yearend 2003.

"Of those known to be HIV positive in all U.S. prisons at yearend
2004, an estimated 6,027 were confirmed AIDS cases, up from 5,944 in
2003. Among State inmates, 0.5% had AIDS; among Federal inmates, 0.4%."

(2002 - race & prison - HIV racial disparities in jails)
"Among jail inmates in 2002 who had ever been tested for HIV, Hispanics
(2.9%) were more than 3 times as likely as whites (0.8%) and twice as
likely as blacks (1.2%) to report being HIV positive."

(2002 - prisons & jails - AIDS deaths in local jails)
"In 2002 the number of AIDS-related deaths in local jails was 42, down
from 58 in 2000 (table 11). The rate of AIDS-related deaths was down
from 9 per 100,000 inmates in 2000 to 6 per 100,000 in 2002. Of the 42
inmates who died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2002, 38 were male and 4
were female. Those who died from AIDS-related illnesses were most
likely black (31 inmate deaths) and between the ages 35 and 44 (21
inmate deaths). Over the 3-year period beginning in 2000, a total of 155
local jail inmates died from AIDS-related causes."

(2002 - prisons & jails - HIV testing in local jails)
"In personal interviews conducted in 2002, nearly two-thirds of local
jail inmates reported ever being tested for HIV; of those, 1.3%
disclosed that they were HIV positive."

Prisons & Jails - Tables

(2000, 2009 & 2010 - prisons & jails - U.S. corrections population)
The table below shows the number of individuals under the control of
the adult correctional system in the United States. This system
supervises "offenders in the community under the authority of adult
probation or parole agencies and those incarcerated in state or federal
prisons or local jails."

"During 2010, the number of persons under supervision of adult
correctional authorities declined by 1.3% (91,700 offenders), reaching
7.1 million at yearend. This was the second consecutive year of decline
in the correctional population."

During the 2000-2010 time frame, the types of facilities that
experienced the greatest increases were private prisons, with growth
rates equaling +168.6% for private federal facilities and +31.3% for
private state facilities.

The number of federal inmates increased by almost 50% during those
eleven years, while the number of state and local prisoners grew by
somewhat slower rates of +11.5% and +20.5% respectively.

<sup>• Total includes all inmates held in state or federal prison facilities
or in local jails. It does not include inmates held in U.S. territories,
military facilities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
facilities, jails in Indian country, and juvenile facilities.

• Community correction centers are non-secure and privately operated.

• Jails are confinement facilities, usually administered by a local law
enforcement agency, that are intended to hold adults. Local jails may
also hold inmates under age 18 before or after adjudication, and these
inmates are included in the jail population."</sup>

(1990, 2000, 2008, 2009 & 2010 - prisons & jails - federal - prisoners by most serious offense)
During the eleven years of 2000-2010, the number of federal prisoners
grew by almost +45%; since 1990, they have more than tripled.

At almost +104%, the fastest growing category of federal inmates
belonged to "public order," which represents those incarcerated for
immigration and weapons violations. The number of federal "drug" inmates
in 2010 expanded by almost one third over those in 2000, but remained
at the same approximate 50% of total federal inmates as in 1990.

<sup>• Violent = homicide, robbery, murder, and manslaughter (negligent and non-negligent).

• Property = burglary, fraud, etc.

• Public Order = immigration, weapons, etc.</sup>

(2006 - prisons & jails - length of sentence by offense)
The table below shows the average sentence (mean and median) imposed
on Federal prisoners for various offenses in 2006. "Among offenders
convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison, the mean sentence was 49
months and the median was 24 months."

~ = Not applicable

(2000 - prisons & jails - federal prison sentence length by offense)
The table below shows the average sentence (mean and median) imposed on
Federal prisoners for various offenses in 2000. "Prison sentences
imposed increased slightly from 55.1 months during 1988 to 56.8 months
during 2000. For drug offenses, prison sentences increased from 71.3
months to 75.6 months; for weapon offenses, sentences imposed increased
from 52.3 months to 92.2 months."