Why Are There So Many People in Prison?

With one in 108 Americans–2.2 million of us–behind bars right now, the U.S. is home to the world’s largest prison population. Why do the number of people in our prisons vastly outstrip those of other democracies, and who are we putting behind bars? We know that our prison systems are disproportionately black: Nearly half of the nation’s prisoners are African-American. We know that 45 percent of California inmates are mentally ill, and 80 percent have alcohol or other substance abuse issues. We know that most are not in jail for the first time. And we know that the prison population is poor and poorly educated. Over the past few years, California has been trying to relieve prison overcrowding, and, this November, voters will decide whether to reduce felonies for crimes like petty theft to misdemeanors so as to keep more low-risk, nonviolent offenders out of prison. What policies work to keep people out of prison, and what policies got so many Americans there in the first place? Former director of the California Department of Corrections Jeanne Woodford, A New Way of Life founder Susan Burton, UC Irvine criminologist and legal scholar Keramet Reiter, andProphet Walker, who helped create a Youthful Offender Pilot Program in California prisons, visit Zócalo to discuss why so many Californians and Americans are in prison, and what can be done to lower their numbers.