Justice Policy Institute
For Immediate Release
February 1, 2000
Contact: Vincent Schiraldi/Jason Ziedenberg, (202) 678-9282
TWO MILLION AMERICANS WILL BE BEHIND BARS BY FEBRUARY 15
Study posted at <http://www.cjcj.org/punishingdecade>
Washington, DC -- The Justice Policy Institute reports that the U.S. Prison and Jail population will top two million for the first time on February 15, 2000 the day after the nation celebrates Valentine's Day. Using the most up to date Justice Department statistics and trends, the Institute estimates that the U.S. now has the world's largest incarcerated population, and highest incarceration rate. Just six weeks into the new millennium, America has earned the distinction of having a quarter of the world's prison population, despite having less than 5% of the world's population.
"There is little to celebrate this Valentines day," stated Vincent Schiraldi, Director of the Justice Policy Institute. "The ascendance of prisons as our decade's major public works project and social program is a sad and costly legacy."
JPI's report, "The Punishing Decade: Prison and Jail Estimates at the Millennium," shows that the imprisoned population grew at a faster rate during the 1990s than during any decade in recorded history. America entered the 1990s with 1,145,300 inmates in its jails and prisons. December 31, 1999, there were an estimated 1,983,084 adults behind bars, and by the end of the year there will be 2,073,969.
The prison growth during the 1990s dwarfed the growth of any previous decade; it exceeded the prison growth of the 1980s by 61%, and is nearly 30 times the average prison population growth of any decade prior to the 1970s.
The Institute estimated that $39 billion will be spent to operate America's prisons and jails by yearend 1999, a figure which will grow to $41 billion by yearend 2000. The Institute also reported that, in 1995, states around the country spent more building prisons than building universities for the first time and that 2/3 of those incarcerated in prison and jail (approximately 1.2 million inmates) are imprisoned for non-violent offenses.
"Halfway through black history month, our prisons and jails represent the sad reality that one out of three young African American males are under some form of criminal justice control," stated Jason Ziedenberg, Policy Analyst at the Institute. "Two million prisoners is too many, and the nation must find alternatives to incarceration to solve America's pressing social problems."
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The Washington, DC-based Justice Policy Institute is a policy development and research body which promotes effective and sensible approaches to America's justice system. JPI is a project of the non-profit Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. The study is posted at <http://www.cjcj.org/punishingdecade>.