Did you know that the U.S. has 2.3 million people behind bars?

Did you know that the U.S. has 2.3 million people behind bars?  Per capita, this is more than any other country in the world.  How tragic and traumatizing to the millions of families directly affected by this.  ICE alone accounts for 43,000 of these.  We as a polity need to work together to address this crisis. To get educated on these matters, PrisonPolicy.org is a good place to start.

-Angela

Data Source: For information about the data visit the data section of the report. (Graph: Peter Wagner & Wendy Sawyer, 2018)

This graph originally appeared in Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2018.

Pie chart showing the number of people locked up on a given day in the United States by facility type and the underlying offense using the newest data available in March 2018.

The United States locks up more people, per capita, than any other nation. But grappling with why requires us to first consider the many types of correctional facilities and the reasons that 2.3 million people are confined there.