>I hope you're right.
I just noticed the Cornell study I sent a link to says "By 2001, the total United States inmate population had swelled to a staggering 6.5 million inmates"
That number is for the "correctional population" meaning it includes people on probation or on parole, i.e. not behind bars. It's upwards of 7 million now, but falling.
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/press/p10cpus10pr.cfm