US prison rate remains near one in 100 Americans: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US prison population was little changed in 2009 with a rate of one out of 100 Americans who are old enough to be incarcerated, a study showed Wednesday. Combining state and federal figures, the total prison population rose by 1,099 inmates to 2.3 million, out of 230 million people old enough to be imprisoned, said the study by the Pew Center on the States. But the number new sunglasses in state prisons as of January 2010 fell by 0.4 percent from a year earlier to 1.4 million, the first year-to-year drop in the nation's state prison population since 1972. While the total US jail population has surged by 705 percent since 1973, the Pew Center said it was too early to know if the slight drop in 2009 was a blip or a change in trend. "After so many years on the rise, any size drop is notable. What?s really striking is the tremendous variation among the states," said Adam Gelb, director of the public safety project of the Pew POLICE Sunglasses Center. Gelb said the reasons for this decline are not fully known but may be related to the budget problems facing states, who must pay for expensive incarceration. "The decline is happening for several reasons, but an important contributor is that states began to realize there are research-based ways they can cut their prison populations while continuing to protect public safety," he said. "In the past few years, several states have enacted reforms designed to get taxpayers a better return on their public safety dollars." The study found mixed results Ray.Ban Sunglasses among the various states but noted that some have implemented programs to roll back the percentage of time that must be served, allowing for earlier release in some cases. The survey found that the federal prison population continued to grow, rising by 6,838 prisoners, or 3.4 percent, to an all-time high of 208,118. Pew attributed this to expanded federal jurisdiction over certain crimes and increased prosecution of immigration cases.