Numbing numbers/ Action items
Not only does the U.S. have the highest incarceration rate in the world; every single U.S. state incarcerates more people per capita than virtually any independent democracy on earth.
One in 7 people in US prisons (203,865) is serving a life sentence. This is more than the entire incarcerated population in 1970.
In California, it costs $106,131 a year to incarcerate an inmate.
New York City spends $556,539 to incarcerate one person for a full year, or $1,525 per day.
K-12 schools spend an average of $13,185 per pupil annually.
It costs the taxpayers of Texas $2.3 million to execute one person.
There are currently 199 people on Death Row in Texas. There are 2,436 people on Death Row in the US.
These are numbing numbers. They can also be action items.
Here is a list of prison reform organizations you can read about, support, and join.
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From a report from 2015;
America now houses roughly the same number people with criminal records as it does four-year college graduates.
Nearly half of black males and almost 40 percent of white males are arrested by the age 23.
If all arrested Americans were a nation, they would be the world’s 18th largest. Larger than Canada. Larger than France. More than three times the size of Australia.
The number of Americans with criminal records today is larger than the entire U.S. population in 1900.
Holding hands, Americans with arrest records could circle the earth three times.
Thank you for adding these beyond-sobering statistics, Karen. The CALL TO ACTION is loud and clear.
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