Prison Nation
Over the past few decades, America’s soaring prison population has passed a series of milestones: 1 million, 2 million, now 2.2 million. A new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts reveals that 1 out of every 100 adults now lives behind bars. For most of American history, prisons existed on the margins of society. This report suggests that, especially among African Americans and Latinos, imprisonment has become a core function of American government, a defining feature of American civilization. Pew’s novel slice into the statistics has generated a great deal of media attention. You can read the full report here.
