Press Release: New Justice Department Report finds 1 in 31 Americans in Prison, Jail, on Parole or Probation

[Courtesy of Drug Policy Alliance] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 11, 2008 Contact: Tony Newman at 646-335-5384 or Bill Piper at 202-669-6430 New Justice Department Report: 1 in 31 Americans in Prison, Jail, on Parole or Probation More than Half of Federal Prisoners Incarcerated for Drug Law Offenses President-elect Obama, Vice President-elect Biden, and Secretary of State Nominee Clinton Favor Major Sentencing Reform A government report released today by the U.S. Justice Department found that 1 in 31 Americans were in prison or jail or on parole or probation last year. The U.S. has less than five percent of the world’s population but almost 25 percent of the world’s prison population, incarcerating more of its citizens per-capita than any other country in the world. The total incarcerated population of 2.3 million far exceeds China’s, which ranks second but whose overall population is four times that of the United States. More than 53 percent of federal prisoners are there for drug law violations. “Alcohol Prohibition was repealed 75 years ago because it wasted taxpayer money, increased violence, and fueled corruption; drug prohibition is doing all that and filling our prisons with hundreds of thousands of nonviolent offenders,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. “Policymakers need to start treating drug use as a public health issue instead of a criminal justice issue.” A recent Justice Department report found that the number of people in federal prison for drug law offenses increased from 74,276 in 2000 to 95,446 in 2007. Nationally, an estimated 500,000 people are behind bars for a drug law violation. That is ten times the total in 1980, and more than all of western Europe (with a much larger population) incarcerates for all offenses. It costs billions of taxpayer dollars to incarcerate them, and many policymakers are supporting efforts to reduce drug sentences and divert nonviolent drug law offenders to treatment instead of incarceration to save money. Earlier this year, President-elect Barack Obama, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, and Secretary of State nominee, Hillary Clinton, supported legislation in Congress to reform federal cocaine sentencing laws. Obama’s official web site states that “Obama and Biden believe the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.” Under current federal law, crack cocaine offenders are punished 100 times more severely than powder cocaine offenders. “America desperately needs a coherent and compassionate national drug policy that reduces the problems associated with both drugs and drug prohibition,” Piper said. “Eliminating the crack/powder sentencing disparity is a great place for the Obama Administration to start.” ###