The Pew Center reported in 2008 that more than 1 in 100 adults is now behind bars in America. State correctional costs quadrupled over the past two decades and now top $50 billion a year, consuming 1 in every 15 general fund dollars.
Currently 2.3 million Americans are behind bars, representing the highest rate of incarceration in the world.
The US prison population has quadrupled since 1980, partially as a result of mandatory sentencing that came about during the "war on drugs." While violent crime and property crime have declined since the early 1990s, non-violent and drug-related incarceration has increased substantially. It's time to release non-violent drug offenders and REDUCE PRISON FUNDING. Reduce the deficit by eliminating unnecessary incarceration.