China is the most populated nation on the planet with some 1.4 billion people; India is closing quickly at 1.3 billion. Together they comprise more than 2.7 billion. The population of the United States of America is 313 million, only 1/8 the size of the two most populated nations in the world.
When we look at the prison population of those nations however, we find that the United States has almost 25% MORE of its people in jails or prisons than do the COMBINED prison population of BOTH China and India.
The graph shows an enormous increase in American prison population beginning in 1980. This is when private, for-profit prisons began taking over an increasingly rising prison population. It was asserted by the private prisons that they could do a better and cheaper job. The same time, state legislatures began writing laws that were seen to be more restrictive, and punishment times were increased.
“The criminal justice system is urged by capitalist owners to convert to privately-owned prisons. They claim private enterprises would be more cost-effective than government-run prisons and would save money. As state owned prisons are converted to private prisons their lobbyists petition legislatures for stricter laws and longer sentences. The more prisoners who are admitted into and kept in the prisons, the greater will be the profits the private prison industry will realize.” Pg. 20 of “Capitalism: Servant of Master?”
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