Petition for Writ of Mandamus, Appendix Page 24

Comment: This article is a little old, collected by me while in jail, and I'm sure there is more recent information, although I doubt that the relative figures between the U.S. and the other countries have changed significantly since then. They demonstrate that the United States has over five times the number of prison beds per capita than England, France or Germany. However, with the Florida prison population expected to double with 76,000 more prisoners over the next ten years, it would appear the figures we will then have will be ten times more prison beds per 100,000 population than they have assuming they stay the same.

Appendix Page 24

Brief Exhibit B-1

PRISONS PACKED

(Article in the Fort Myers News-Press of 9/13/94, taken from the Associated Press.)

Washington. -- The United States has a higher rate of incarceration than any country in the world except Russia, according to a study released Monday by a private group.

The group, The Sentencing Project, which promotes alternative sentencing, concluded that get-tough policies of the past two decades have failed to reduce violent crime.

The study found there are 1.3 million inmates in American prisons and the incarceration rate has reached an all-time high of 519 per 100,000 population, up 22 percent since 1989.

Of 52 nations surveyed, only Russia had a higher incarceration rate, 558 per 100,000.

England had 93 behind bars for every 100,000, while France had 84, Germany 80, Japan 36 and India 23.

The report found that black Americans are incarcerated at six times the rate of whites, and that the 583,000 black men in prisons and jails surpassed the 537,000 enrolled in higher education.

It said that despite the doubling of the inmate population since 1980, there has been "no consistent impact" on violent crime. Only 16 percent of the 155 percent increase in new court commitments to state prisons from 1980 to 1992 came from violent offenders, while drug, property and public order offenders accounted for 84 percent.

The current emphasis on tougher penalties continues policies adopted over the past 20 years "that we now see have failed to reduce violent crimes," said Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project.

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Comment: To reach Exhibit B-2 to the Brief, take the next link below.

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