NY Times:
For the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars, according to a new report.
Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are in local jails. The number of American adults is about 230 million, meaning that one in every 99.1 adults is behind bars.
Incarceration rates are even higher for some groups. One in 36 Hispanic adults is behind bars, based on Justice Department figures for 2006. One in 15 black adults is, too, as is one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34.
Full Report link (pdf).
You know, I honestly do not know what to say anymore.
This militarization and securitization of America keep accelerating at a rapid pace. And as usual, the poor and dark-skinned bare the brunt of it. With ambiguously named crusades such as the "War on Drugs" and the "War on Terror", Uncle Sam has engaed in immigration raids on US citizens, drug raids that kill innocents, indefinite detention, torture, spying without warrants, deportations of US citizens, and mandatory minimum sentencing. These are all things that impede on our most basic freedoms, yet we accept them in the name of "law & order" and "national security."
The War on Drugs and the prison-industrial complex continue to feed off each other. Putting people away for decades for nonviolent offenses, and often, for nothing but being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We have more than one million non-violent offenders languishing away in our prison system. We've allowed our authorities, who we trust to do the best thing for everyone, to disproportionately arrest and incarcerate America's most traditionally hated and feared "other." Abusers of basic human rights can gain comfort knowing that our legislatures have passed a law that gives them practical imunity from inmate lawsuits.
The prison-industrial complex has also eroded the foundations of our democracy by denying people the right to vote. Many are not allowed to vote even after leaving prison.
It's almost impossible to overstate the ramifications today's news should have on society. We can no longer afford to dismiss the basic humanity of our fellow human beings because they've been convicted of a crime. We need a new prisoner's rights movement, one that will not stop until every single mandatory minimum drug sentencing law is abolished and treatment of addicts is empasized over punishment. The very foundation of our classification as a democracy depends on it.