[Posted Mar. 5, 2008]

Rise In Prison Population Unrelated To Crime Rate

By Leonard E. Colvin

Chief Reporter

New Journal & Guide

     With its $5.6 trillion-dollar economy, the United States leads the world in generating wealth and producing and  consuming material goods. It also has the nation’s highest ranked military and technology base.
      The United States is number one in another, more ominous category: incarceration of its citizens.  China, the world’s most populous nation has 1.5 million behind bar and  Russia has 890,000.
Outdistancing these countries by far, and, at the top of the heap, is the United States with 2.3 million people behind bars—and the number keeps growing, according to a new report from the Pew Center, a non-profit organization.
     Interestingly, as the incarceration number has skyrocketed in America, the level of crime in the nation has not risen  in correlation. Rather, according to the report, tougher sentences,  poor legal representation and a lack of inmates being reformed have been identified as reasons for the incarceration growth.
One in 100 American citizens are now behind bars, according to the Pew Center. Of that number, the total populations in prison are becoming increasing black and younger. One in 15 black men—18 or older—are in jail, according to the Pew report. For black men—20-34 years of age—1 in 9 are in jail.
Some 1,596,127 men and women are in the nation’s state and federal prisons, while another 723,131 are in local facilities, serving out their sentences or awaiting transportation to state and federal facilities.
      Many are in overcrowded facilities, such as the Norfolk City Jail, a site built for 850 people which now houses 1700 inmates.
      The Pew Center report indicates that while more states are incarcerating more people, they are doing so at a higher price.  And while the states are collectively devoting some $50 billion to incarcerating people, Uncle Sam is spending about $5 billion more.  
   States are spending an increasing number of dollars to house and feed prisons during a year. In many states incarcerating citizens comes close to expenditures for educating them. For example, in Massachusetts, for every dollar it spends on education, it spends 98 cents on inmates. For every dollar Virginia spends on  education,  it spends 60 cents on inmates.
Four states actually spend more to upkeep their inmate populations than to educate their youth: Connecticut at $1.03 for incarceration; Vermont at $1.37 for incarceration; Michigan at $1.19; and Oregon at $1.06. Delaware spends $1.00 for each population.
      Most of the people who are incarcerated in this nation are men. But during the past 30 years, according to the Pew Report,  the impact of incarceration has fallen disproportional on people of color.
      One in 15 black men—18 or older—are in jail, according to the Pew report. For Black men—20-34 years of age—1 in 9 are in jail.
      One in 355 white women are in jail. But 1 in 100 African American women from age 35 to 39 are in jail.

    The South led the way, with its population jumping from 623,563 to 641,024—a rise of 2.8 percent. Only three of the 16 states in the southern region reported a drop in inmates, while nine experienced growth exceeding 4 percent.
       Increasingly, in those states, the race of the total populations in prison is becoming increasing black and younger.  In Virginia, for instance, as of March 3,  the state prison population,  including  temporary detention units, stands at  33,993.  California still has the highest number of people behind bars at 175,512.

      Fifty-eight percent of Virginia’s prison population is African American.  Between the ages of  18 and 29, a majority of those inmates are African American.

        Of the 1606 females in Virginia state prisons, the proportion between black and white women is basically equal.

   
    The reason why the incarceration rate in the United States stays high and steady is varied, according to the Pew Report. The report indicated that while the rate of incarceration in the United States, during the past decade has risen, the level of crime in the nation has not risen  in correlations.
       But the nation’s “war on drugs” is steadily raging and most of the newly incarcerated Americans are being placed behind bars for non-violent offenses related to the sale of illicit drugs on the street, including cocaine and its cheaper derivative, crack cocaine.
       Further longer and more stringent sentencing of drug and non-related offenses by the courts has caused the number of poor and minority men and women to represent a higher number of people being sent to prison. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that the sentencing guidelines used to sentence crack cocaine dealers and users is  much higher than those involved in cocaine. Most of those offenders involved in crack distribution are African Americans and, thus, a larger number of them are landing in jail.
        Virginia Congressman Robert Scott has long supported  evening and reducing the sentencing guidelines imposed on offenders for crack and cocaine. Now Scott has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives (HR 5035) which would eliminate the added penalties for cocaine base use, eliminate the mandatory minimum sentences associated with it and use the savings for drug treatment and counseling. 
Scott has held hearings  that featured an array of people from on-the-street dealers, judges and federal health officials  to give their views on why the federal sentencing guidelines have failed.
       Dr. Terri Adams-Fuller is a professor of Criminal Justice at Howard University. Each year she teaches a course on corrections and the reasons and causes for it.
       Adams-Fuller says that varying socioeconomic factors are at work contributing to the increase in the number of Americans being incarcerated, especially in the nation’s rural and urban communities.
       “And they are all tied to economics,” she said.  "There is a sense of desperation for many people.  While the nation may be in a slowdown, for many communities we see depression and worse. For many young African American men, they feel they have no recourse other than being recruited into the illicit drug trade to raise money for themselves and perhaps seeking to help their families.”
       Dr. Adams-Fuller said that the nation’s “War on Drugs” is being waged on the streets against the most obvious and easiest member of the nation’s illicit drug enterprise to arrest, the street corner dealer and most of the time he is between  the ages of 16 and 24 years of age and a poor, black male high school dropout with no jobs skills.
        With the stringent drug sentencing laws and weak legal representation, many of them can ill afford to hire a viable lawyer, many are “shuttled off to prison,” Dr.  Adams-Fuller said.
       Civil rights groups and  supporters of  less stringent sentences for non-violent drug offenses say that recidivism is another factor accounting for  the large number of black and Latino inmates in the nation’s prison system.
       “These people are not being reformed behind bars,” said the Howard professor. "Younger prisoners are being thrown in jail with career criminals and are  increasing their knowledge  of being a criminal. Once they return home, if they have not changed their view of the world, have role models to steer them clear of the criminal culture, have skills, a job and other support services, they will return to the jail.”
       Dr. Adams-Fuller said that while many states are seeking to help inmates acquire life and jobs skills before being released, an increasing number of churches are seeking “to reclaim” these men as well to insure they gain self-supporting  path to being stabile.
       Many other states  are not investing enough funding to provide programs to support inmates returning from prisons to their communities.
       Changes in the nation’s welfare system and  drug addiction have contributed to the growth in the number of poor and minority women behind bars.
       “Many of them do not have the support system they once did to provide for their children,”  said Dr. Adams-Fuller.  "Many of these women, and many men are caught up in the 'drift theory' of criminal activity. They may not be criminal or involved in using drugs, but get caught it some way.  There are ways in which people may be not be the criminals but in some way associated with the activities to enable it. Perhaps deriving a living from it and they get caught up in the web of law enforcement.”

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