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Home » Crime » Prisoners in the Free World – America’s Astronomical Incarceration Rate

Prisoners in the Free World – America’s Astronomical Incarceration Rate

May 22, 2016

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The other day, I came across an article about Jeff Smith, a former Missouri state senator who was recently released from a 1-year stint in federal prison. Years earlier during a failed congressional run, Smith’s campaign violated election law by sending out anonymous postcards attacking his political opponent. When the violation surfaced years later, Smith was caught on tape conspiring to cover it up.

Not to make light of election law, but a year in prison for conspiracy to cover up postcards? Even if the punishment were fair to Smith and his family, is prison really the best use of tax dollars? Each federal inmate costs tax payers about $29,000 a year. Wouldn’t a suspension from elected office and a monetary fine have been a more suitable punishment?

It all got me to wondering about the U.S. incarceration system. It’s well known that the U.S. locks up a larger share of its population than most other countries, but just how much more?

The U.S. prison population is 3x the size of all other developed countries combined

This map shows the prison populations in the world’s 42 advanced economies (as defined by the C.I.A. World Factbook).

prison population map

Click on the image to view the map in higher resolution

As the map above shows, the U.S. has over 3x as many prisoners as the rest of the world’s advanced economies combined. And the picture looks even more extreme when you factor in population size.

incarceration rate developed countries

The 42 countries shown in the map have a combined population of just over 1 billion, of which the U.S. makes up about one-third. That puts the United States’ incarceration rate over 6x as high as the rest of the developed world. No other advanced economy even comes close.

Prison populations and incarceration rates around the world

The U.S. has a much higher incarceration rate than other developed counties, but how does it stack up globally?

Worldwide, the United States’ prison population of 2.2 million is higher than any other country. China is a not-too-distant second with 1.6 million prisoners. After that, no other country is even in the ballpark.

The U.S. incarceration rate, 693 prisoners per 100,000 people, is #2 in the world. The only country with a higher incarceration rate is the tiny island nation of Seychelles, population 89,000.

If you’d like go through the data yourself, click the link below to expand a table showing prison population figures for all countries, data courtesy of World Prison Brief.

Show prison population data...
LocationPrison PopulationPrisoners Per 100,000 People
United States2217947693
China1649804118
Russian Federation651464445
Brazil607731301
India41853633
Thailand320308474
Mexico255138212
Iran225624287
Turkey187609238
Indonesia18034769
South Africa159563292
Philippines142168140
Vietnam136245146
Colombia122020244
Ethiopia111050128
United Kingdom: England & Wales85540147
Pakistan8016943
Peru77298246
Morocco76000222
Poland71786189
Bangladesh6971943
Argentina69060160
France6667899
Ukraine64182177
Egypt6200076
Germany6173776
Taiwan61691263
Spain61541133
Algeria60220156
Myanmar60000113
Japan5962047
Cuba57337510
Kenya57000121
Nigeria5662031
Rwanda54279434
South Korea53990107
Italy5372588
Malaysia52784172
Venezuela49664159
Saudi Arabia47000161
Uganda45092115
Chile44003245
Uzbekistan43900150
Iraq42880123
Canada40663114
Kazakhstan39179221
Australia36134152
Tanzania3440464
El Salvador33395517
Turkmenistan30568583
Belarus29000306
Romania28393144
Cameroon26702114
Afghanistan2651974
Ecuador25902162
Dominican Republic24898232
Angola2416596
Tunisia23000204
Azerbaijan22526236
Czech Republic21667205
Democratic Republic of Congo2055029
Israel20245256
Madagascar2000084
Guatemala19810121
Sudan1910150
Sri Lanka1902788
Zimbabwe18857145
Zambia18560125
Cambodia18308116
Hungary17976183
Costa Rica17440352
Panama17197426
Nepal1681359
Honduras16331196
Mozambique1597657
Ghana1445853
Portugal14281139
Yemen1400053
Bolivia13468122
Singapore12394219
Puerto Rico (USA)12327350
Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire)1214756
Malawi1212970
Belgium11769105
Netherlands1160369
United Arab Emirates11193229
Haiti11046102
Paraguay10949158
Syria1059960
Nicaragua10569171
Serbia10500148
Slovakia10116186
Jordan10089150
Kyrgyzstan10030167
Uruguay9996291
Georgia9734262
Greece963290
New Zealand9405202
Tajikistan9317121
Bulgaria9028125
Burundi868977
Senegal863062
Niger852544
Hong Kong8438115
Laos8201119
Austria818895
Moldova8054227
Lithuania7810268
Mongolia7773266
Scotland (U.K.)7672143
Benin724777
Switzerland692384
South Sudan650452
Burkina Faso625134
Libya618799
Lebanon6012120
Sweden540055
Albania5316184
Mali520933
Papua New Guinea486463
Chad483139
Latvia4745239
Togo442262
Jamaica4050145
Bahrain4028301
Botswana3960193
Armenia3880130
Ireland378681
Norway371071
Trinidad and Tobago3700272
Swaziland3610282
Namibia3560144
Sierra Leone348855
Denmark348161
Croatia342481
Gabon3373193
Kuwait320092
Republic of Guinea311026
Finland310557
Macedonia3034147
Estonia2819215
Mauritius2268177
Liberia220349
Lesotho207392
Guyana1967259
Kosovo1816100
Mauritania176844
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Federation172273
Fiji1555174
Slovenia151173
Northern Ireland (U.K.)146078
Belize1443410
Cape Verde (Cabo Verde)1434286
Bahamas1396363
Oman130036
Macau (China)1292200
Congo (Brazzaville)124027
Maldives1200341
Qatar115053
Gambia112158
Bhutan1119145
Reunion (France)1101122
Montenegro1083174
Suriname1000183
Martinique (France)969245
Guadeloupe (France)950202
Barbados924322
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska87767
Guam (USA)797469
French Guiana (France)791298
Central African Republic76416
Seychelles735799
Cyprus68180
Luxembourg631112
St. Lucia607327
Djibouti60067
Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor)58150
Virgin Islands (USA)577542
Malta569131
Brunei Darussalam565134
Samoa (formerly Western Samoa)501258
Equatorial Guinea50063
French Polynesia (France)456160
New Caledonia (France)445168
Grenada424398
St. Vincent and the Grenadines412378
Antigua and Barbuda387418
Curaçao (Netherlands)348225
St. Kitts and Nevis334607
Solomon Islands27146
Vanuatu23087
Bermuda (United Kingdom)230354
Cayman Islands (United Kingdom)224369
Dominica219300
American Samoa (USA)214382
Mayotte (France)20084
Sao Tome e Principe17887
Tonga176166
Northern Mariana Islands (USA)175267
Aruba (Netherlands)170165
Sint Maarten (Netherlands)161347
Jersey154152
Iceland14745
Kiribati146130
Comoros14519
Micronesia132127
Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)119425
Greenland (Denmark)116208
Guinea Bissau925
Guernsey83127
Isle of Man (United Kingdom)8092
Palau72343
Andorra5572
Gibraltar (United Kingdom)52158
Anguilla (United Kingdom)46307
Marshall Islands3566
Monaco2874
Cook Islands (New Zealand)25109
Nauru14140
Faeroe Islands (Denmark)1123
Tuvalu11110
Liechtenstein821
San Marino26
Holy See (Vatican)00

 

Does the United States’ high incarceration reduce crime?

prison population growth
Growth of the U.S. prison population (Source: PBS)

Not much, if at all.

That’s the finding of a report released last year by the NYU Brennan Center. The study concluded that in general, higher incarceration rates do reduce crime, but the effect is diminishing.

In the 1990’s, rising incarceration accounted for approximately 6 percent of the reduction in property crime during that period. In the 2000’s, incarceration rates continued to rise, but their effect on crime had diminished, accounting for just one-fifth of one percent of the reduction in property crime seen that decade.

For violent crime, the report found that higher incarceration had no observable effect in the 1990’s or in the 2000’s.

How do these findings from the Brennan Center compare with the results of other studies?

The table below shows the results from 7 other studies on increased incarceration’s impact on crime (including one from Steven Levitt of Freakonomics fame). At the high end of the estimates, only 4% of the reduction in violent crime and 2% of the reduction in property crime are attributed to increased incarceration.

studies on reduced incarceration and crime
Source: Brennan Center for Justice, “What Caused the Crime Decline?“

“Table 5 summarizes past findings of national empirical studies on incarceration’s effect on crime along with the Brennan Center findings. Each study used data through the listed year to estimate the “elasticity” of crime with respect to incarceration (i.e. the percentage crime changes when incarceration changes by one percent). Simply put, the elasticity measures how incarceration affects crime. The authors applied previous studies’ elasticity estimates to updated crime and incarceration data through 2013 to impute incarceration’s effect on the drop in crime in the 1990s and the 2000s. These estimates are useful to compare findings across studies.”

The findings are consistent. The rise in incarceration during the 2000’s did little if anything to prevent crime.

However prison is not just about crime deterrence. It serves other purposes as well, such as rehabilitation.

Are U.S. prisons effective at rehabilitating prisoners?

Here are some statistics on recidivism, relapse into criminal behavior, from the Bureau of Justice.

release to first arrest
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010“

 

  • 43% of former inmates are arrested within a year of release.
  • By year three, 68% have been arrested at least once.
  • Only 23% of released prisoners make it five years without being arrested.

Why do so many former prisoners return to crime?

One obvious contributor is the difficulty in finding a job for someone with a criminal record. Often employers will ask about criminal history in a pre-employment screener, effectively disqualifying them from the start. Alhough doing so is now banned in some states.

A less well known cause are the fees that are often assessed against convicted criminals related to their incarceration, known as legal financial obligations, which compound their financial struggles upon release. Former inmates may leave prison owing $10’s of thousands to the state, with the threat of being sent back to prison if they don’t pay.

If the goal of rehabilitating prisoners is to prevent them from returning to a life of crime, releasing them deep in debt and poorly equipped to find a job hardly seems like smart policy.

Who’s interests are served by high incarceration?

Not only do the United States’ high incarceration rates not deter crime or rehabilitate prisoners, they are also very expensive. The corrections system costs nearly $80 billion a year in federal, state, and local tax dollars. It would seem the system is not only inhumane, it is also bad economic policy.

Who benefits?

Without speculating about the causes behind America’s rising incarceration, it’s still interesting to look at who’s incentives the system serves.

Private prison operators

One group that clearly benefits from more imprisonment are companies that operate private prisons.

As reported by ProPublica, there are currently about 130 private prisons in the U.S., which house about 157,000 prisoners. That’s a small percentage of the country’s total prison population, but it’s still big business. The two largest private prison companies, Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group, generated a combined revenue of $3.3 billion in 2010.

According to the Washington Post, the two companies have spend $25 million in lobbying dollars since 1989 and an additional $10 million on campaign contributions.

Prison suppliers

A while back, a friend of mine mentioned a company that holds a monopoly on the prison commissary supply market, a company he claimed was owned by the Bush Family.

The company is called Keefe Commissary. It’s not clear to me whether the Bush association is true or just a rumor, but a search in Google does turn up some red flags about the company’s pricing:

  • a long list of contracts that were awarded “no-bid” or without competition
  • involvement in a kick-back scandal (though Keefe was not accused of any wrongdoing)
  • and lots of unconfirmed accounts of overcharging prisoners for commissary items.

For example, see the [unsubstantiated] comment below from a 2013 reddit AMA post:

Comment from discussion IAMA 26 year old male who just spend two months in the maximum security section of the county jail. I was among those accused of murder and some pretty heinous crimes – some facing the death penalty. AMA.

Keefe’s commissary prices are available for many prisons on the Bureau of Prisons website. A quick spot check backs up the claim that their ramen noodles are indeed overpriced.

keefe commissary prices soup

Maruchan Roasted Chicken soup: Keefe Commissary ($0.60) vs. Walmart ($0.36)

 

 

My latest project, Elementus, aims to bring transparency to the cryptocurrency market. Check out our blog for some crypto-related data visualizations.

 

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Max Galka

I'm an NYC-based entrepreneur (my newest project: Blueshift) and adjunct instructor at UPenn. I'm fascinated by data visualization and the ways that data is transforming our understanding of the world. I spend a lot of time with my face buried in Excel, and when I find something interesting I write about it here and also as a Guardian Cities and Huffington Post contributor.
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  • Sue

    Even more fun…

    World Incarceration Rates If Every U.S. State Were A Country
    http://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/

    • http://metrocosm.com Max Galka

      Great chart! Spent some time digging through the site, but I missed that one.

  • Pingback: All the World's Immigration Visualized in 1 Map - Metrocosm()

  • KeefeEmployee

    Just happened across this and as a Keefe employee I wanted to correct/explain a couple of things.

    First, the Bush family? In over ten years, that’s the first I’ve heard of it. We have no direct ties (and probably only the most tenuous indirect ties) to the Bush family. We are, however, “owned” by the family that founded and owns a large rental car company. “Owned” is a complicated term, though, so I won’t try to explain the specifics. There are quite a few news articles that go into that which are far more reliable than Anonymous Redditor spouting rumors.

    Second, on pricing, Keefe vs. Walmart is not a fair comparison. Walmart has ramen delivered in bulk to their store. You walk in, pick up one package, buy it, and take it home. Keefe orders ramen in bulk and it’s delivered to a warehouse, and that’s where the similarities end. As an inmate, you probably create an order that includes a pack of ramen which Keefe and the facility you are housed in have to process. Your order then has to be filled by people in the warehouse where the goods are. The warehouse then has to ship your order, and those of your fellow inmates, to your facility. Commissary workers then have to unload, sort, and deliver those orders to you in your cell block. A system has to be in place to keep track of the funds you have available for commissary and to charge that account for purchases, and that system has to be customizable to suit the needs of hundreds of different facilities, large and small. All of this has to be secure.

    So that’s extra workers, extra sorting/packing/shipping, extra systems to drive the process, extra people to support the systems… All overhead that has to be taken into consideration on the price of not only commissary items but on any services provided to inmates.

    Third, we’re not a monopoly. We are definitely the biggest player in the industry, but we have numerous competitors. A facility likely only has one commissary provider, so any given inmate doesn’t exactly have an option to shop around, but neither do they have they option of getting their meals from another kitchen, their sheets cleaned in a different laundry room, their medical issues resolved by a different nurse, and so on.

    Having said all that, the high incarceration rates in this country are troubling to me personally. I can sleep at night, though, because I know the services my company provides are needed. Plenty of facilities provide the bare minimum required by law to their inmates, and the commissary is the only place they can go for any other wants or needs.

    • http://metrocosm.com Max Galka

      As someone who works for Keefe, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

      I’ve heard/read the Bush connection from many sources (more reputable than reddit). I’ve also seen others that say they are not involved at all. Don’t know what the truth is, but when ownership of a business is “complicated,” that is already a bit of a red flag.

      Fair point about Walmart, perhaps the comparison is not fair. Walmart buys in major bulk and I’m sure Keefe faces costs that Walmart does not.

      Not sure what part of the company you’re involved in, but I would be curious to understand better how the pricing is determined. The cost of a given item seems to change depending on the prison. And based on a few spot checks, it appears some items are priced about equal to online retailers like Walmart, and other items (like Ramen) are not.

  • Catherine Luse

    I think most Americans are complacent about this issue because they consider incarcerated people as being less deserving of their attention and resources than pretty much every other group of people. In terms of priorities, incarcerated people usually come after every other cause – children, students, universities, elderly people, health, hunger, and the arts.

    I think what doesn’t ‘click’ in the American consciousness is how much these numbers are due to the drug war, and how racist the enforcement of the drug war really is. I recently read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, in which the author makes a case, largely by using statistics, that the way the drug war is enforced is brutally racist, with a disgusting amount of resources being squandered on incarcerating small-time offenders. It would be interesting if, somehow, the connection between the massive prison population, the drug war, and race could be more accessible to the public, especially people who don’t read much, and who generally would prefer to prioritize other issues. Usually we see racial disparities, the drug war, and prison issues being presented as if they are separate from each other. They’re not.

  • eliseu florentz

    a demografia dos eua diverge de outros desenvolvidos alem disso nos eua ha corte a serio vcs reclamam por que não vivem no resto sei que quando se está num nivel tal se sonha ser a suiça mas com essa demografia é meio dificil

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