In 1999, the United States surpassed Russia as the world leader in imprisonment, with one in every 130 people living behind bars. The U.S. prison population has soared above 2 million, and most of those inmates are locked up for nonviolent crimes. People are also leaving prison in record numbers; in 2000, an unprecedented 600,000 prisoners returned home. The imprisonment boom, fueled largely by the nation's war on drugs, has generated new industries and jobs. It has also devastated neighborhoods, fractured families, and created a new class of stigmatized people who will one day return to society.

**********

Sobering Statistics:

If recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 out of every 20 persons (5.1%) will serve time in a prison during their lifetime.
--U.S. Dept of Justice

Men (9.0%) are over 8 times more likely than women (1.1%) to be incarcerated in prison at least once during their life.
--U.S. Dept of Justice

There are those who think prisons should ban weights: "If I didn't have lifting," said a prisoner in New Jersey, "I'd be in lockdown every day . . . How would I vent my energy?"

According to a recent U.S. Justice Department study conducted to measure violent crime in the workplace, correctional officer was rated the fourth most violent job, surpassed only by policemen, cabbie and private security guard.

Every year, more people are arrested than the entire combined populations of our 13 least populous states.

America incarcerates five times as many people per capita as Canada and 7 times as many as most European democracies.

America spends approximately 100 billion dollars a year on the criminal justice system, up from 12 billion in 1972.
--Bureau of Justice statistics

'If you wanna survive in the pen, you gotta join a gang. For protection, if nothing else."
--a prisoner in Texas

In a famous psychological study conducted in '86, mental health researches held an experiment to see the effects of crowded conditions on rats. As they added more rats to the once normally functioning "community," things changed. The rats became stressed out and violent, and developed nervous twitches as well as eating disorders.

"With more and more program cuts, them taking away weights and education, and with more guys doing longer sentences, the aggression has got to go somewhere."
--a prisoner in New York

Get high. Do crime. Go to the joint.
Get high. Do crime. Nothing changes.
The drug economy knows no barriers.

A common misconception is that prisons are resorts.
Try this out:
For a real taste of prison life,
try living 23 hours a day in your bathroom.
Remove everything but the toilet,
use the bathtub as a bed,
lock the door,
and make yourself comfortable.

The U.S. prison population recently hit the 1.8 million mark-and that's just counting those in prison or jail. Throw in parolees and probationers and the combined number of people under some form of correctional supervision rises to nearly 6 million out of an estimated one out of every 38 adults.

Every 49 seconds, an American is busted for selling drugs.

In the early 70s, there were about 200,000 people locked up in the U.S. Today's prison population of 1.8 million represents a growth of over 800% in the past 30 years.

Prison Code:
Don't show weakness.
Show loyalty to convicts, not staff.
Don't lose control.
Mind your own fucking business.

"They try and take away your individualism.
Make you wear the same clothes, limit your property,
even make tattoos illegal in prison."
--a prisoner in California

300,000 male prisoners are raped or sexually assaulted each year.
Informal surveys put a prisoner's chances of rape at 90%.
--Stop Prisoner Rape

"If you're marked with a gang tattoo, they'll throw you in solitary.
If they don't like you, they'll put you in enemy territory."
--a prisoner in Texas

"I have visited some of the best and the worst prisons
and have never seen signs of coddling,
but I have seen the terrible results
of the boredom and frustration of empty hours
and pointless existence."
former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger