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Article: The dreadful U.S. prison scene. (Columns).(Invisible Punishment)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- December 13, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Twenty-five years ago the United States became addicted to prisons. With no national debate and no planning, the number of prisons quadrupled. The nation's current prison population of 2 million prisoners includes 750,000 African-Americans.
The number of women incarcerated has increased seven-fold. In 1980 there were 12,000 women prisoners; in the year 2000 there were 90,000. Texas led the states with 12,714 female prisoners in the year 2000.
A new book Invisible Punishment (Free Press) contains 16 essays by experts on the series of bad judgments that have led to the incarceration in the United States of 700 out of every 100,000 persons. The rate in ...