New Studies and Reports

Updated Drug War Facts Compiled August 2002 by Douglas A. McVay for Common Sense for Drug Policy 1. "Prisoners sentenced for drug offenses constitute the largest group of Federal inmates (57%) in 2000, up from 53% in 1990 (table 20). On September 30, 2000, the date of the latest available data in the Federal Justice Statistics Program, Federal prisons held 73,389 sentenced drug offenders, compared to 30,470 at yearend 1990." Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, PhD, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, July 2002), p. 14. 2. In 2000, drug law violators comprised 21% of all adults serving time in State prisons - 251,100 out of 1,206,400 State prison inmates. Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, July 2002), p. 12 & Table 17, p. 13. 3. Over 80% of the increase in the federal prison population from 1985 to 1995 was due to drug convictions. Source: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1996 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, 1997). 4. "Between 1984 and 1999, the number of defendants charged with a drug offense in U.S. district courts increased about 3% annually, on average, from 11,854 to 29,306." Source: Scalia, John, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal Drug Offenders, 1999 with Trends 1984-99 (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, August 2001), p. 7. 5. "As a result of increased prosecutions and longer time served in prison, the number of drug offenders in Federal prisons increased more than 12% annually, on average, from 14,976 during 1986 to 68,360 during 1999." Source: Scalia, John, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal Drug Offenders, 1999 with Trends 1984-99 (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, August 2001), p. 7. 6. All major Western European nations' incarceration rates are about or below 100 per 100,000. In the United States, in 2001, the incarceration rate for African-American women was 199 per 100,000, and for African-American men 3,535 per 100,000. The rate of incarceration for Hispanic women is 61 per 100,000, and for Hispanic men the rate is 1,177 per 100,000. The rate of incarceration for white women is 36 per 100,000, and for white men the rate is 462 per 100,000. Sources: Currie, E., Crime and Punishment in America, New York, NY: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, Inc. (1998), p. 15; and Harrison, Paige M. & Beck, Allen J., PhD, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, July 2002), p. 12, table 16. 7. "Overall, the United States incarcerated 2,100,146 persons at yearend 2001." This total represents persons held in: Federal and State Prisons: 1,324,465 (which excludes State and Federal prisoners in local jails) Territorial Prisons: 15,852 Local Jails: 631,240 Facilities operated by or exclusively for the US INS: 8,761 Military Facilities: 2,436 Jails in Indian Country: 1,912 Juvenile Facilities: 108,965 (as of October 1999) Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Beck, Allen J., Ph.D., US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, July 2002), p. 1 8. "The rate of incarceration in prison and jail was 686 inmates per 100,000 residents in 2001, up from 601 in 1995. At yearend 2001, 1 in every 146 US residents were incarcerated in State or Federal prison or a local jail." Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Beck, Allen J., Ph.D., US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, July 2002), p. 2. 9. The U.S. nonviolent prisoner population is larger than the combined populations of Wyoming and Alaska. Source: John Irwin, Ph. D., Vincent Schiraldi, and Jason Ziedenberg, America's One Million Nonviolent Prisoners (Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute, 1999), pg. 4. 10. "Since 1995 the sentenced inmate population in State prisons has grown 21% (table 5). During this period 10 States increased their sentenced inmate populations by at least 50%, led by North Dakota (up 87%), Idaho (up 81%), and Oregon (up 75%). Between 1995 and 2001 the Federal system reported an additional 52,846 inmates sentenced to more than year [sic], an increase of 63%." Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, Allen J., PhD, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, July 2002), p. 5. 11. "While the State sentenced prison population rose 0.3% during 2001, the sentenced Federal prison population grew 9.2%. The Federal prison system added 11,465 sentenced prisoners-the equivalent of more than 220 new inmates per week." Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, Allen J., PhD, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, July 2002), p. 4. 12. According to the US Justice Department, between 1990 and 2000 "Overall, the percentage of violent Federal inmates declined from 17% to 10%. While the number of offenders in each major offense category increased, the number incarcerated for a drug offense accounted for the largest percentage of the total growth (59%), followed by public-order offenders (32%)." Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, Allen J., PhD, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2001 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, July 2002), p. 14 These facts and much more are available online at: www.drugwarfacts.org Questions, comments or suggestions for additions and modifications may be addressed to Doug McVay at: dmcvay@drugwarfacts.org

Request for creative expression HEY young people, prisoners, ex-prisoners, family of prisoners, probation officers, police officers, people who work in prisons, prison activists and advocates! We are looking for submissions for inclusion in a book meant to de-mystify the "prison industrial complex," to document people's experience with the criminal justice system, and to serve as an organizing tool for young people of color. Examples of subjects we are looking for: Personal experience of being in jail, growing up with family members and/or close friends being in jail, watching someone close to you get arrested, advice to others about how not to get locked up, working inside prisons or in the criminal justice system, LGBTTSQ issues and prisons, growing up assuming you will end up in jail, organizing around prisons/criminal justice issues, calling the police, locking someone up, health issues inside prison, the death penalty, and choose your own. Submissions can be in the form of personal experience writing, artwork, photography, drawings, paintings, graffiti, poetry, lyrics, short stories, graphics, screen play, letters, any form of creative expression whatsoever! When we say 'prisons' we mean regional jails, county jails, state prisons, federal prisons, private prisons, juvenile detention centers, immigration detention centers, group homes, holding cells, mental institutions and the like. When we say 'criminal justice system' we mean all types of prisons, criminal courts, police agencies and all of the people involved in its operation - lawyers, judges, district attorneys, parole and probation, police, drug trafficking, criminal laws, policies, politics and politicians. Send submissions no later than March 15th, 2003. All entries will receive a response. Those selected for publication will receive compensation. If you want original artwork returned, please send a SASE. E-mail to: prisons@bust.com or mail hard copy to: Prison World · c/o Soft Skull Press 71 Bond Street · Brooklyn, NY 11217 Or fax (718) 643-0879

Visit the Journey for Justice archive!