The US prison population, already the largest in the world, reached a new high of more than 2.1 million last year, with one in every 138 residents of the country now behind bars, according to new government statistics.
The data, made public by the Bureau of Justice Statistics on Sunday, put the US far ahead of countries like China and Russia, whose combined population is about five times that of the US.
"The numbers are pretty consistent with what they have been in the last few years," Justice Department statistician Paige Harrison, a co-author of the report, said.
"We are seeing continued growth in prisons and jails, but at a lower rate than we had about 10 years ago," Harrison said.
The study shows the number of inmates across the country rose an estimated 48,452 people, or 2.3 percent, in the 12-month period ending on June 30, 2004.
In other words, the system was adding to its ranks on average 932 individuals every week.
The rate of incarceration reached a record of 726 inmates per 100,000 residents -- up from 716 a year earlier.
By comparison, the current incarceration rate in Britain is 142 per 100,000 citizens, in China 118, in France 91, in Japan 58, and in Nigeria 31, according to the Justice Policy Institute, an independent research organization.
drug offenders
US federal prisons that house the most drug offenders accounted for the largest increase of the prison population -- 6.3 percent.
Thirteen states reported increases in the number of those incarcerated of at least five percent, led by Minnesota, which boosted its prison roll by 13.2 percent, Montana, up by 10.5 percent, and Arkansas, up by 8.9 percent.
While the number of female prisoners increased by 2.9 percent, American men were overall 11 times more likely to end up behind bars than women: the incarceration rate among the male population was 1,348 per 100,000 residents.
African-American men
But the situation was even more startling in the African-American community. A total of 12.6 percent of black males in their late twenties were now officially in prison, compared to 3.6 percent of Hispanics and about 1.7 percent of whites, the report showed.
Although incarceration rates dropped with age, the percentage of jailed black males aged between 45 and 54 was an estimated 4.5 percent -- more than twice the highest rate among white males.
The number of foreigners held in state or federal prisons increased 1.4 percent, reaching 91,789, according to the study.
violent crime
The report follows the release by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of new statistics indicating that violent crime went down two percent in the US in the first six months of last year, with murders dropping 5.7 percent.
The two sets of data have immediately prompted members of the administration and other supporters of President George W. Bush to assert that the main reason crime was going down was because more criminals were being taken off the streets.
"We have also had a change in parole release and revocation policies, which increase the chance of parole violators coming back," Harrison noted.
underlying factors
But Jason Ziedenberg, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, pointed to the need to address the underlying issues of unemployment, poverty and education in order to reduce the number of inmates while also keeping crime down.
"Unless we promote alternatives to prison, the nation will continue to lead the world in imprisonment," he said in a statement.
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