The United States is home to 25% of all of the worlds criminals and the prison institution is one of confusion and misunderstanding. To clear things up, this map shows a geographical breakdown of how many prisoners are located within each state. An astounding fact was released by The Economist stating that, on average, 1 out of every 100 citizens in the United States will be imprisoned at some point in time.
The state of Louisiana had the largest amount of prisoners coming in with 867 prisoners per 100,000 individuals. Based on these staggering statistics we can further calculate that the country of Israel, as a whole, contains an equivalent amount of prisoners to the state of New Hampshire.
These statistics are shocking to say the least. Economists and the American Civil Liberties Union are alarmed at the amount of Americans that are being incarcerated every year. This brings up the question of whether or not the current laws are working for, or against, the general population. Is America a land filled with violent criminals that will do anything to get ahead? Or is it a breakdown within the judicial system?
This high population of incarcerated Americans flows into all aspects of the country. New York city alone pays roughly $168,000 per inmate according to the New York Times. The statistics show that the majority of the money spent on inmate confinement (83%) went to paying the wadges and accommodations of the staff needed to incarcerate these inmates.