U.S. Hits Record for Incarcerated, Paroled -- At What Cost?

Nov. 30, 2006 — -- According to a new Justice Department report, 7 million men and women, or 3 percent of the U.S population, are currently incarcerated, on probation or on parole -- a new record that makes the United States the world leader in incarceration.

Aside from the huge financial cost of having so many people behind bars -- it costs more than $20,000 per year for every incarcerated prisoner -- experts say there are serious societal concerns that can have a lasting impact on American communities.

"Almost every major American city has some area or neighborhood where there are concentrations of 15 to 25 percent of the men being locked up at some time in the last few years," said Todd Clear, a professor with the John Jay School of Criminal Justice in New York.

Criminologists say released prisoners face a number of social issues assimilating back into society -- problems can involve finding work, decreased earnings, finding housing, increased divorce rates, school performance issues for children of those incarcerated, juvenile justice problems and health or addiction problems.

"As you add up these little effects, it has a big affect socially," Clear said.

Racial Disparity

The rate of incarceration for minorities is especially high. According to the criminologists, the incarceration rate for African-American males is eight times higher than that of white males. A 2005 Justice Department report found that 60 percent of state and federal inmates were black or Hispanic.

That racial disparity can have a big influence on the U.S. political process. Many states have laws that forbid convicted felons from voting, or mandate a period of years after release from incarceration before reinstating voting rights.

In Kentucky, for example, almost 25 percent of African-American males in the state are barred from voting because of criminal records. According to the Kentucky League of Women Voters, Kentucky, Florida and Virginia permanently bar all individuals with felony convictions from voting.

Groups like the Sentencing Project, a non-profit organization that promotes reduced reliance on incarceration, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund advocate reinstating voting rights to those with criminal records.

"This sends a message that you're a second class citizen," said Kara Gotsch, Director of Advocacy at the Sentencing Project

A Growing Problem

The political process itself may have played a role in the rise to the historic level of incarcerations.

Alfred Blumstein, a professor at the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University, said the incarceration rate began to increase in the early 1970s after staying relatively steady for years.

"Since 1973, the incarceration rate has risen 6 to 8 percent per year," he said.

According to Blumstein, the crackdown on crime as a political issue started the increase. And the emergence of crack cocaine in the 1980s accelerated the arrest rate, especially for African-American males.

"When traditional drug dealers were arrested… the replacements were young people and there was an increase in gun crime," Blumstein said.

Blumstein said the deterrent that jail is supposed to provide is lessened when many in the community have been to jail. "When all of your peers have been incarcerated, it loses it's stigma. It almost becomes a rite of passage."

According to the Justice Department, 650,000 people are released from state and federal prisons every year as they re-enter the communities they once lived in.

In recent years, states and the federal government have become more focused on re-entry programs designed to work with prisoners while they are still incarcerated to provide job training or help with mental health or substance abuse issues.

The increase in drug convictions has had a particularly high impact on single moms.

"Two-thirds of women incarcerated are mothers of children under the age of 18… these children can be sent to the foster care system," Gotsch said.

The Sentencing Project says community corrections programs would be a better alternative to jail for some convicted drug offenders who are single moms.

"It is very difficult for people coming out of prison to get back on their feet," Gotsch said.