🚀 go-pugleaf

In <5dv0fs$6df@rclnews.eng.ohio-state.edu> orlin-s@rclsgi.eng.ohio-state.edu (orlin steven jared) writes:

>You said in a previous post that 'most' prisoners have had something
>to do with drugs, and 'most' of those prisoners were in on charges
>for posession/dealing with marijuana.  Well, if both of those 'mosts'
>are 51%, that's only about 26% of the total population in prisons.

Few questions for you:
  What is the total prison population in the US?
  (Hint: The US incarceration::population ratio is the highest in the world)

  How much does it cost to keep 26% of those convicted?
  (Is it still ~$20k/year/person?)

  How much prison space is available versus those in prison?
  (Are prisons at or above capacity?)

  What is the most logical solution to this set of problems?
  (Your choices:
    Increase prison space [that ratio isn't high ENOUGH]
                          [of course we have money to burn ... what debt?]
    Release violent offenders [current overcrowding 'solution']
    Release nonviolent offenders [POWs, victims of the War of Drugs])

  Or, alternately, is this a problem?
  (Why not?)

Please feel free to use fact to back up your assertions.

--
Christopher Curtis               - http://www.ee.fit.edu/users/ccurtis
Florida Institute of Technology  - System Administrator, Programmer
Melbourne, Florida  USA          - http://www.lp.org/