Thursday, April 5, 2012

The Danger of Jail



While reading the profile of Morse Bickham in Holding On, I started to question the function of the justice system and the impact that the jails have on the general public. I found some interesting statistics. According to a prison census taken in 2010, there were 1,602,071 people that call prison home. That is 0.5% of the US population which may seem like a small percentage, but is actually a large section of people. Research also showed me how I "support" the jails.

Each prisoner costs $3.42 per day. This means that each day, the prisoners cost $5,479,082.82 and nearly 2 billion dollars a year. I find this to be an unbelievable amount and makes me think of how this money could be better spent. Don't get me wrong, I feel that prisons are a necessity in a country like ours, but I feel that more could be done in order to cut down on costs or prevent these prisoners from going to jail altogether.

http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/Prison_Count_2010.pdf

2 comments:

  1. I would have to say that 1,602,071 people living in prison it a little ridiculous, especially in the United States. We're supposed to be the UNITED STATES for a reason but not if there are so many blood thirsty criminals out there.

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