(2004-05-12) Two Million Us Jailed

Vigils are being mounted today (in 2000, not 2004) in more than 30 major cities in the UnitedStates to draw attention to the arrival of the two millionth inmate in American jails (US Prison Population). The US comprises 5% of the global population yet it is responsible for 25% of the world's prisoners. It has a higher proportion of its citizens in jail than any other country in history, according to the November Coalition, an alliance of civil rights campaigners, justice policy workers and drug law reformers... "Two million is too many," said Nora Callahan of the coalition, which is calling for alternatives to prison for the country's 500,000 non-violent drug offenders. War On Drugs, Laws Make Criminals

• Of those held in federal rather than state prisons, 60% are drug offenders with no history of violence.

August update: good Bill Maher rant - Now, we are all Lynndie England because we know what's happening in our prisons and we don't care. We tell ourselves - we tell ourselves the convenient lie that anyone who bears the label "criminal" or "terrorist" is irredeemable, sub-human, psycho scum, and so whatever happens to them behind bars is justified. When the truth is, millions of non-violent Americans have been traumatized for life in prisons simply because they either did drugs or made a bad judgment, usually when they were young, stupid and drunk.