There were approximately 1.6 million men and women in the nation’s jails and prisons last year, reported the Department of Justice. This figure is a 113 percent increase since 1985 and equates to one out of every 167 U.S. residents in jail or prison.
Since 1980 — when the number of inmates in state or federal prisons or in local jails stood at just over 500,000 — incarceration growth in the United States has ballooned over 200 percent. According to federal statistics, the most significant factor for this dramatic increase is drug arrests. Drug offenders now comprise more than 25 percent of all U.S. inmates, up from less than ten percent in the mid-1980s. “While Congress and politicians are calling for tougher sentencing and tougher judges, they are conveniently neglecting the fact that America already incarcerates a larger percentage of its population than any other country; this is a direct result of the drug war,” said NORML Deputy Director Allen St. Pierre. “Unfortunately, after listening to recent campaign speeches by both the Dole and Clinton camps, it appears this trend is far from over.” For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre of NORML @ (202) 483-5500 or Mark Mauer of The Sentencing Project @ (202) 628-0871. Copies of NORML’s fact-sheet: “Percentage Of United States Inmates Incarcerated For Drug Violations: A Ten Year Comparison” are available upon request.