USA world imprisonment leader

This video from the USA says about itself:

Social impact of rising prison population – Univ. of Michigan

In late Feb [2008], the Pew Center published a report that documents increasing prison population. Among the startling results: About 1 in 99 Americans are in prison, and the U.S. incarcerates more people than any other nation. The two profs explore the need to elevate the topic of prison reform in the national discourse.

By Kate Randall in the USA:

7.3 million in the US prison system

4 March 2009

A study released this week by the Pew Center on the States delivers a staggering statistic: 7.3 million Americans-or 1 in every 31 adults-are in the nation’s prison system. This figure includes those in US jails and prisons, on parole, on probation, or under other forms of correctional supervision.

No other country comes close to matching this number. If these individuals were grouped together, they would number more than the entire populations of Israel or Honduras, or all of the residents of Washington state.

The new study “One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections,” follows a study by the Pew Center last year that found the US leading the world in the rate at which it puts its people behind bars: 1 in 100, or 2.3 million people.

The last quarter-century has seen an explosion in the number of Americans incarcerated, growing by 274 percent. During this same period, those under “community supervision”-the term used by Pew to designate those on parole, probation or other prison supervision-also rose dramatically, from approximately 1.6 million in 1982, to 5.1 million in 2007.

A lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of seven juvenile prisoners describes sexual abuse by both adult inmates and guards in Michigan prisons: here.

James Forman Jr.’s book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, is one more in the substantial list dealing with the topic of mass incarceration in the US and its hugely disproportionate impact on African-American workers and youth: here.

CORY BOOKER: BRINGING JUSTICE BACK INTO THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM “The facts about the criminal-legal system in America are sobering: The United States accounts for only 5 percent of the globe’s population, but for 25 percent of the world’s prison population. We lead the world not in science and math education, college graduation or childhood health — but in the total number of people we incarcerate. We imprison more people than China, Russia, and India combined.” [HuffPost]

U.S. HAS HIGHEST RATE OF CHILD DETENTION The United States has the world’s highest rate of children in detention, including more than 100,000 in immigration-related custody that violates international law, the author of a United Nations study said. [Reuters]

Reviewing the findings of a United Nations study of the conservatively estimated 7 million children worldwide currently deprived of liberty by being imprisoned or detained, author Manfred Nowak reported at a press conference Monday that the United States leads the world in the rate which it detains young people under the age of 18: here.

Activists are coming together to protest the city of Seattle‘s plan to construct a new jail at a cost of $200 million–at the same time budget cuts are taking a toll: here.

France: “For prison guards, better 10 suicides than one escape”: here.

HALF THE COUNTRY AFFECTED BY JAIL A new study reveals in stark numbers just how many American families have been affected by mass incarceration. Nearly half (45 percent) of adults in the U.S. have an immediate family member who has spent at least one night in jail or prison. [HuffPost]

On Wednesday, the United States Senate voted 87-12 in favor of watered-down legislation that will roll back a few of the most draconian provisions of the federal criminal justice system. The “First Step Act,” short for the “Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act,” goes back to the House of Representatives, which passed a slightly stronger version last May by a vote of 360 to 59: here.