( A one minute read )

Half of the world’s prison population of about nine million is held in the US, China or Russia.

USA:  AROUND 2,145,100, 25 percent of the world’s total prison population. No society in the history of mankind has incarcerated so many of its citizens than the U.S. except

CHINA: The total prison population in China is at least 2,300,000.

Russian: 671,027

UK: 95,248

Turkey:  151,451.

Faeroe Islands:  10.

UK prison population is biggest in western Europe.

In a comparison of 50 European countries, Britain is behind only Russia and Turkey in number of prisoners.

It is nearly 20,000 higher than France and 30,000 more than Germany, according to the latest Council of Europe figures.

The appetite for incarceration in Britain is underlined by the number of prisoners per 100,000 population, which stands at 149.7 for England and Wales and 147.6 for Scotland.

The average spent per prisoner per day in England and Wales of €109 (£84) is above the European average of €99 or £76.62. With 7,468 serving life sentences they alone cost the Uk taxpayer £630,000 a day or £7,560,000 a year.

Clearly value for money to keep serious criminals of the streets but when you add-on the remaining non lifers a mere £ 9,568,020 a day with half of those released reoffend within a year including six in ten of those on sentences of less than twelve months.

The total is mind-boggling and you would have to ask the question is it time to embrace meaningful alternatives to incarceration; Such as community-based sentences with drug treatment.

I don’t see why it is not possible for the vast proportion of minor drug offenders and other non violent offenders to serve their sentience in the community.

” The prison crisis is symptomatic of a society that isn’t helping out its most marginalized, economically disadvantaged communities,”

The heading for this blog will become true as technology replaces more and more jobs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

national epidemic use of mass incarceration.