Posts Tagged ‘prison population’
Prison Population and the US Census
For the first time in census history, the numbers of inmates at prisons will be made available at local and state levels in order to give state governments the opportunity to redraw district lines with or without inmate populations. Several states are also considering legislation that would require inmates to be counted as part of the population at their last permanent address. The information provided by the census on prisoner populations could have drastic affects on both rural areas that currently have a greater political pull because of their inmate populations, as well as urban areas, where a large portion of prisoners have a permanent address. The overall purpose of the newly provided census information is to reduce the amount of prison-based gerrymandering.
Read more here.
Posted by hcdmedia
Judges Agree to Schwarzenegger’s Plan
In August federal judges ruled against the state of California in two lawsuits brought by prison inmates who argued that overcrowding led to poor medical and health care. After months of modifying proposals to reduce the California prison population, Governor Schwarzenegger’s latest plan has been accepted by a panel of judges.
Read more about the plan here.
Posted by hcdmedia
Growth of Prison Population Slows in 2008
Although the US prison population is still growing the Department of Justice released figures that shows that the rate of growth slowed in 2008. The total number of people in prison and jail amounts to 2.3 million. That is 1 out of every 133 adults who was behind bars as of last year. These figures are high but the rate of growth has slowed:
The prison population grew less than 1 percent last year. The previous decade saw the inmate population grow by an annual average of more than 6 percent.
This can mainly be attributed to states forced to cut prison costs in hard economic times. Read more here.
Posted by hcdmedia