How many people we kept in jail LAST YEAR

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Wallew

Moderator
The United States incarcerated 2,166,260 persons over the past twelve months. This total represents persons held in:

Federal and State Prisons 1,361,258
Territorial Prisons 16,206
Local Jails 665,475
INS Facilities 8,748
Military Facilities 2,377
Jails in Indian Country 1,912
Juvenile Facilities 110,284

http://www.sheriffauctions.org/

From a sheriff's auction page.

Notice the total in Federal and State Prisons is 1.36 million - out of those incarcerated last year - more than ONE MILLION are there for drug charges

And it costs YOU AND I approximately $30,000 per inmate per year. SO last year we (you and I) spent $30 BILLION to keep these BAD PEOPLE in jail.

Instead of letting them do their silly @ssed drugs and tax them somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 - 5 TRILLION DOLLARS. Kind of puts the whole thing in perspective if you ask me.
 
1 Million rounds of 9mm ammunition can be had for under $100k and solves the problem just as effectively.
 
You want to put this in perspective? Let's put it in perspective. Let's suppose that every single one of those 2,166,260 incarcerated persons was put in jail for drug use alone. Now let's see how much tax each would have to pay to generate 3 trillion dollars:

3E12 dollars / 2,166,260 drug users = a little over 1.3 million dollars apiece. That seems high to me. But wait--there's really only 1 million drug users, and they may have to generate *5* trillion dollars.

Want to try it again? It may also be useful to estimate the cost of having 1 million drug users out and about. I've heard that sometimes those guys, as fun-loving and happy as they all are, sometimes even steal things.

Tim
 
And don't forget that most of them are in prison after commiting a crime and being granted deferred adjudication; commiting a crime and being granted probation a time or three; and then commiting another crime, so on and so forth until they finally catch the chain.

Also, let's not forget that a lot of them are there for multiple crimes. For instance, drug charges plus aggravated assault. Or drug charges and burglary.

LawDog
 
Subtract all the ones that are doing time for non-violent Possession Of An Evil Plant Or Powder, which at last check was fully half of the prison population, and there'll be plenty of space for the real criminals.

1 Million rounds of 9mm ammunition can be had for under $100k and solves the problem just as effectively.
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So you'd have the government shoot somebody in the head for possession of a plant, or having the wrong piece of metal at the end of their rifle?

And I thought China was bad.
 
There is still a huge number of them that are there for drugs alone. Of the ones who stole or have committed nonviolent crimes they are most likely because of drug addiction. I don't remember the actual number but it was a ridiculous percentage. If we could find a way to not have to spend $30,000 a year for a million inmates AND have them commit no more crimes AND pay their share of taxes then that would be best. A lot of these people really are good people when they are off the drugs. Just look at Rush Limbaugh (not me I hate the guy but I know some like him and I just wanted to point that out). The best way that has so far been proven is to get them to get a college education while in jail. The recidivism rate for inmates who are released is around 80%. The recidivism rate for convicts who have received a college degree in jail is 10% (or up to 25% depending on the study). A college educated person has also been shown (statistictly) to be less likely to let a drug addiction ruin their lives (and consequently, other lives). Also, I personally don't like to have to pay to keep 100,000's of people in jail for smoking weed or possesing it. And that should be a crime akin to drinking in public anyway (if not legal and taxed).
 
i heard a radio show the other day dealing with prison gangs in super-max facilities.

they interviewed kids in street gangs, and many said that they HAD to go to prison in order to gain respect. many had role models, people that they respected, uncles, fathers, etc, that had been in prison. kinda like, when i was a kid, i wanted to be a geologist like my dad.

they also said that prison was like college for them, in order to further their knowledge for their career choice, they had to spend some time in prison.

i'm sorry, but people like this will never be "rehabilitated". they have chosen their path in life based on family history or other factors. nothing will ever change them from being a criminal, THEY WANT TO BE A CRIMINAL. in fact, sending them to prison is exactly what they want. when they get out they are even more skilled in their "trade" then before.

implying that drug users are not "BAD PEOPLE" is, IMO, a severe over-simplification of a severe problem:

why do some people want to hurt others?

IME your average joe pothead does not end up in prison unless they do something hurtful to another.
 
"The recidivism rate for convicts who have received a college degree in jail is 10% (or up to 25% depending on the study)."

And what percentage of convicts get college degrees in jail? Don't count the drug users--remember, you've already released them because of how harmless they are.

Tim
 
So you'd have the government shoot somebody in the head for possession of a plant, or having the wrong piece of metal at the end of their rifle?
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A one time expense of 10 cents vs $30k/year - The choice is pretty obvious to me. Of course I'd feel pretty sorry for the first few, but after that anybody still into drugs would deserve getting shot for Darwin's sake, if nothing else. :p
 
Many people serve in "jail" for pot posession (I may have mispoke slightly). Many of the people who are in prison do worse thing like sell pot or steal to support their heroine habit. You mentioned an over simplification? Well just look at the stats that say that most of the prisoners are drug users that did not commit a violent crime. I'm not saying that they are not bad people now I'm just saying that they can become good people. And if we can get them to stop drug abuse then WE will have to spend billions less on keeping them in jail each year.
As far as those kids that grow up in the innercity or nearby suburbs that gain more respect from going to jail, well you're right about part of that. If there was more intervention in their neighborhood and had a better family life as well then that would not be the case for them. I am pretty sure that they are also not the majority of criminals in prisons and evevn if they were then why are we putting non violent criminals, that made serious life mistakes that were related to drug abuse, into the same prisons as the ones that will make them into violent criminals. They have to get out of prison sometime and now we have a bigger problem to deal with. Unless you put all criminals in for LIFE, you have to rehabilitate the ones you can and drug abusers are a lot easier to rehab than the gang thugs that make up smaller numbers. So unless we want to commit mass murder or build enough jails for trillions of dollars to keep them in for life we need to do something different than the path we are taking.
 
And don't forget that most of them are in prison after commiting a crime and being granted deferred adjudication; commiting a crime and being granted probation a time or three; and then commiting another crime, so on and so forth until they finally catch the chain.

Also, let's not forget that a lot of them are there for multiple crimes. For instance, drug charges plus aggravated assault. Or drug charges and burglary.
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Lots of folks want to forget that. They don't want to be faced with the facts about the kind(s) of behavior that actually land these imbeciles in jail where they belong. No, strike that, they belong on a damned chain gang until they get a clue. :mad:
 
And what percentage of convicts get college degrees in jail? Don't count the drug users--remember, you've already released them because of how harmless they are
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A very few compared to those that should be. The studies I have seen were in locales in the U.S. that have college and/or pay for prisoners. The number of prisoners with an agressive program that could get an education, be it a real trade or college, would be a hell of a lot more than enough to justify it. It would help our society so much more than shooting a bunch of human beings would.

I wasn't saying that we should release the drug offenders unconditionally, especially if they are just going to commit another crime to support their habit. I do think that pot should be legal, regulated and taxed though.
 
How many citizens in jail on a RICO offense? Guilt by association.

How many citizens in jail because the judge limited the evidence that could be presented at trial? Look up "fully informed jury".

How many citizens in jail or with time added to another sentence because they lied to a federal officer ... after being lied to by the same individuals?

How many citizens in jail have been later released because of evidence that would not be admitted during trial?

How many citizens are in jail because of a misdemeanor that was changed to a federal felony?

How many citizens are in jail because of testimony that was bought by the DA or law enforcement from an informant known to be a violent criminal?
 
I'm on ATW525s side. I won't miss a toothless, urine drinking methhead.
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What if he's a member of your family and you really beleive that he could change? I my personal experience most people I have met that were against the courts for letting people off easy and thought that all criminals should get the maximum would always try to use the system the same way when a son or daughter was in jail for something their kid really did. Just imagine if a kid of yours got drunk for the first time in his life, let his friends talk him into doing meth, and then drove a car into a crowd of people when he passed out. Would you forsake him forever and never speak to him again or would you hire him a lawyer and beg the judge not to give him life without parole? (hypothetically, I know it is hard to imagine if you know it would never happen to a child of yours)
 
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