As I scrolled through my Facebook news feed, I discovered the following artwork here, being shared by the page, “End the War on Drugs,” and originally posted it to my own wall, along with commentary…
“This year’s winner in prison population (prisoners in millions): USA – 2.0, China – 1.5, Russia – 0.8. The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population, but nearly 25% of the world’s prisoners. Let’s meet the champions: (Three Strikes, and other mandatory sentencing laws, not higher crime rates, are responsible for the 800% increase in federal prison populations since 1970.) (Louisiana, has the highest incarceration rate with 1619 per 100k residents, more than 2x the national average. Nearly 2/3 of their prisoners are non-violent offenders. This is largely due to the laws voted into effect by voters.) (Private prisons, are the for-profit prisons that hold over 10% of all federal prisoners. The problem: they spend millions each year lobbying for stricter sentencing laws to increase their profits.) Share better. Share this. Upworthy.”
My Commentary: “Land of the Free”?
