PEW Report finds more than one in 100 adults are behind bars.

[Ester Holzendorf]

Pew Press release. For the first time in history more than 0ne in every 100 adults in America are in jails or prisons- a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety. As prison populations expand, cost to states are on the rise. Last year alone states spent more than $49 BILLION on corrections, up from $11 BILLION 20 years ago. However the national recidivism rate remains virtually unchanged, with about half of released inmates returning to prison or jail within three years of release. The report points out the necessity of locking up violent and repeat offenders, but notes that prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime, or a corresponding surge in the nation's population at large. Instead people are behingd bars principally because of a wave of policy choices that are sending more lawbreakers to prison and through popular "three strikes" measures and other sentincing laws, imposing longer prison stays on inmates. "States are paying a high cost for corrections-one that may not be buying them as much in public safety as it should.

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