Where is 1% of the American adult population?

[kandrathe]

What people are totally glossing over, with the exception of Jester and Pete, it costs money to house these prisoners. If these people were not incarcerated, they would have to work for a living to feed, cloth, and shelter themselves legitimately. Why should they get all these things for free because they broke society's laws? What most here don't understand is that inside a prison, prisoners can buy goods and they are paid for their work (miniscule as it is, but they are) and they also pay for luxury goods, like cigarettes, at far reduced rates (a pack of cigarettes in prison will cost about a $1 to $2 depending where as a pack of cigarettes outside of prison can run you close to $5 to $7 per pack, if not more).

And prisoners in the US are not treated terribly unlike other prisoners like in China or Iran, in some cases, the prisoners get a better life behind bars than if they were out on the streets in some US cities. There are some people in the US that think we're too lenient on prisoners.

Here is a report about California, who must reduce its prison population.

Here in Minnesota, there was a big political drama when it was learned that the 2 dozen 50" Flat Panel TV's were installed in the Moose Lake State prison for sex offenders. These really are the criminally insane people you don't want loose in your society, rather than the ones who merely shoplift video tapes, or have a large stash of marijuana.

Here is a Huffy post article -- Record-High Ratio of Americans in Prison -- Nice graphic.