The Land of the Free incarcerates more citizens per capita than any other country on Earth, almost half of them for nonviolent offenses. And it's not because of a rise in crime rates—in fact, those have been falling for nearly a decade. Rather, tough sentencing and anti-drug laws have put a growing number of marginal offenders behind bars.
From Wired Nils Christie: Empty the Prisons part of their The Smart List: 12 Shocking Ideas That Could Change the World. Thing that struck me was that Chuck Colson and Prison Fellowship have been talking about this for years:
2.3 million men and women now pack our prisons and jails — a 500-percent increase since Prison Fellowship began in 1976.
From the sidebar on Why Minister to Prisoners.
- Peace
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