Is it like this because we had to balance out slavery with another form of slavery? There are more black men in prison than were enslaved in 1850. We have to learn from history because we are doomed to repeat it.
But, I don't want to debate that. I want to point out that it isn't like this in other countries. I live in the state in the country that has the highest incarceration rate in the world. I have seen how it tears apart communities and lives. How it destroys any sort of reprieve from violence in our lives and our hearts. How it is tearing me apart.
In relation to the world we are above, Rwanda, Cuba, and Russia. Talk about freedom, huh!
"According to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College London, the U.S. currently has the largest documented prison population in the world, both in absolute and proportional terms. We've got roughly 2.03 million people behind bars, or 701 per 100,000 population. China has the second-largest number of prisoners (1.51 million, for a rate of 117 per 100,000), and Russia has the second-highest rate (606 per 100,000, for a total of 865,000). Russia had the highest rate for years, but has released hundreds of thousands of prisoners since 1998; meanwhile the U.S. prison population has grown by even more. Rounding out the top ten, with rates from 554 to 437, are Belarus, Bermuda (UK), Kazakhstan, the Virgin Islands (U.S.), the Cayman Islands (UK), Turkmenistan, Belize, and Suriname, which you'll have to agree puts America in interesting company. South Africa, a longtime star performer on the list, has dropped to 15th place (402) since the dismantling of apartheid. - http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2494/does-the-united-states-lead-the-world-in-prison-population"I'm also going to post a link to the Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate . So you can look at the statistics yourself.
The point is, while the world changed in the 80s and 90s. Downfall of apartheid and communism, and more importantly Dictatorships, but we went the other way. While America's politicians talked about freedom, we waged war on ourselves. And people stood by and watched it happen. Our parents sold us out to china. To prison. To a future that lacks not only economic security, environmental security, but even autonomy and freedom.
This is something I've been trying to find in myself. What the fall is that we are experiencing. For the sake of security, out parents took more than was their share. We don't have it anymore. Now what do i do?
I think i might move to Maine. I'd like to move to Denmark.
Rank |
Jurisdiction | Prisoners per 100,000 population |
|---|---|---|
| - | United States | 504 |
| 1 | Louisiana | 853 |
| 2 | Mississippi | 735 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 661 |
| 4 | Texas | 639 |
| 5 | Alabama | 634 |
| 6 | Arizona | 567 |
| 7 | Florida | 557 |
| 8 | Georgia | 540 |
| 9 | South Carolina | 519 |
| 10 | Arkansas | 511 |
| 11 | Missouri | 509 |
| 12 | Kentucky | 492 |
| 13 | Virginia | 489 |
| 14 | Michigan | 488 |
| 15 | Nevada | 486 |
| 16 | Idaho | 474 |
| 17 | California | 467 |
| 18 | Colorado | 467 |
| 19 | Delaware | 463 |
| 20 | Ohio | 449 |
| 21 | Indiana | 442 |
| 22 | Tennessee | 436 |
| 23 | Alaska | 430 |
| 24 | South Dakota | 412 |
| 25 | Connecticut | 407 |
| 26 | Maryland | 403 |
| 27 | Pennsylvania | 393 |
| 28 | Wyoming | 387 |
| 29 | Wisconsin | 374 |
| 30 | Oregon | 371 |
| 31 | Montana | 368 |
| 32 | North Carolina | 368 |
| 33 | Illinois | 351 |
| 34 | Hawaii | 332 |
| 35 | West Virginia | 331 |
| 36 | New Mexico | 316 |
| 37 | New York | 307 |
| 38 | Kansas | 303 |
| 39 | New Jersey | 298 |
| 40 | Iowa | 291 |
| 41 | Washington | 272 |
| 42 | Vermont | 260 |
| 43 | Nebraska | 247 |
| 44 | Rhode Island | 240 |
| 45 | Utah | 232 |
| 46 | North Dakota | 225 |
| 47 | New Hampshire | 220 |
| 48 | Massachusetts | 218 |
| 49 | Minnesota | 179 |
| 50 | Maine | 151 |
