Locked Down Nation: One in Every 31 Adults Now in Corrections System

The Pew Center has released a shocking statistic: one in every 31 adults in the United States is now in the corrections system in jail, prison, probation and supervision. That is over double the rate of 1982 when one in 77 was in the system.

One in 100 is in jail in a rate that retains the position of the United States as the country with the greatest number of people incarcerated. Among the states, Georgia holds the record with one in 13 adults in the justice system. Idaho has one in 18 adults in the system and Texas has one in 22.

When broken down on race, the numbers are equally staggering. Almost ten percent of black adults are in the system while only two percent of white adults.

The financial impact is also enormous with a prison and jail population at 2.3 million in 2008 — a 274 percent increase in 25 years. The costs of this population are grown even above the rate of growth — expanding more than 300 percent in the last 20 years.

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