<http://www.drcnet.org/wol/248.html#prisonpopulation>
While the states, faced with growing budget deficits and drug war fatigue, are beginning to rethink their approaches to crime and sentencing and decrease their prison populations, the federal prison system is still growing at a rapid clip, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics' latest review of the data. According to "Prisoners in 2001," released this week, state prison populations grew by only 3,193 people during 2001, an increase of 0.3% over 2000. In the last half of 2002, the total number of state prisoners actually declined by 3,700 persons -- a decline of 0.3% and a possible harbinger of a growing exodus from the state prisons.
The federal prison system, on the other hand, continued its rapid expansion, adding 11,557 inmates, a startling 8.0% increase over the previous year. Drug war prisoners constitute a majority of all federal prisoners, accounting for 57% of all federal inmates.
The US prison and jail population -- state and federal -- has now climbed to more than 2.1 million persons, yet another all-time high, the report noted.
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To see the Bureau of Justice Statistics report, go to <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/press/p01pr.htm> and linked pages.
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