FILE – In this May 20, 2009 file photo, several hundred inmates crowd the gymnasium at San Quentin prison in San Quentin, Calif. The Supreme Court on Monday, May 23, 2011, endorsed a court order requiring California to cut its prison population by tens of thousands of inmates to improve health care for those who remain behind bars. The court said in a 5-4 decision that the reduction is “required by the Constitution” to correct longstanding violations of inmates’ rights. The order mandates a prison population of no more than 110,000 inmates, still far above the system’s designed capacity. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

By Henry Blodget,

 

There are now more Americans in jail — 6 million — than there were in Stalin’s Gulag, reports Fareed Zakaria, in a column called “Incarceration Nation.”

And it’s not just a relative population thing.

The U.S. has 760 prisoners per 100,000 citizens.

How does that compare to other countries?

It’s 7X-10X as high:

  • Japan has 63 per 100,000,
  • Germany has 90 per 100,000
  • France has 96 per 100,000
  • South Korea has 97 per 100,000
  • ­Britain has 153 per 100,000

And it’s also a relatively new phenomenon: In 1980, the U.S. only had 150 prisoners per 100,000 citizens.

What’s to blame?

The “War on Drugs.”

More than half of America’s 6 million prisoners are in jail for drug convictions, with 80% of those in jail for “possession.”

By the way, has the “war on drugs” worked?

Um, no.

There are still drugs everywhere.

So, maybe it’s time we stopped throwing people in the slammer for possessing them.

Read Fareed Zakaria’s column here >

 

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1 COMMENT

  1. Americans ///// you sure , you wanna tell the truth , American Invaders make the majority not Americans , more lame stream lies , but what the hell eh! the sheep will believe any propaganda you shills spout , bet you dont print this

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