More than 1 percent of US adults are in jail or prison

...for the first time ever in our nation's history. That most interesting fact, cited in the lasest issue of an American prison industry trade magazine. Snip:

 

Quoting the recent report by the Pew Center on the States' Public Safety Performance Project, Lamkey noted that for the first time in history more than 1 percent of adults in the United States - one in 99.1 persons is held in jail or prison.

Ned Sublette, on whose email list I found the item, says:

 

That is a good thing, if you sell things like Aedec's Pro-Straint prisoner restraint chair. [ * ] Another article at this journal's website discusses the problem of increasing numbers of alzheimer's cases in today's aging prison population.

More from the trade zine:

 

As reported in the May/June issue of Correctional News, the United States leads the world in the number of inmates per capita, with 750 inmates per 100,000 residents, according to the Pew report. During 2007, the U.S. prison population increased by more than 25,000 inmates to almost 1.6 million inmates, and local jails throughout the United States held 723,131 inmates at the end of 2007.

 

There are other interesting things in here, including tips on reducing carbon footprint of jail facilities, and stuff about colors and how they affect the imprisoned population.

 

In the Trenches: AJA Seminar Highlights(Correctional News, thanks Ned Sublette)

 

[ * ] Here's more on the design and use of "restraint chair" devices: The Devil's Chair (Progressive magazine)