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Article: US PRISON POPULATION UP 4.7% IN 6 MONTHS
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- September 7, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1987 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON - Prison population grew 4.7 percent in the
first half of 1987 as a record 570,519 inmates jammed state and
federal correctional facilities, a Justice Department agency
reported yesterday.
Prison officials were forced to add about 1,000 new beds a
week to keep up with the influx -- a 7.8 percent increase in the
West, 2.5 percent in the South, 4.6 percent in the Midwest and 5.1
percent in the Northeast, said the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
In the six months ending June 30, California's prison
population rose 5,253 to 64,737, accounting for 21 percent of the
nationwide increase so far this year.
The upward trend in California is caused in part by stringent
state laws ...