America behind bars

On Friday the BBC ran an article online about how many people are in prison in the US. 2.3 million Americans are locked up--that's over 1% of our total adult population. The US is way ahead of China, Russia and Iran. Out of every 100,000 people, the US is imprisoning 750, South Africa 341, Iran 222 and China 119.

Last year the cost of imprisonment for our 50 states was $49 billion. 20 years earlier, that cost was less than $11 billion. This rate of increase is six times higher than the rate for higher education.

One in every 30 American men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars. In that same age group, one in nine black men is behind bars.

Something is very nuts here.