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Since 2008, CarceralNation.com has served as your worldwide news and commentary and analysis site that dissects trends and reveals unjust incarcerations and wrongful imprisonments.

Doing Time on the Peoples Dime:

The number first appeared in headlines earlier this year: Nearly one in four
of all prisoners worldwide is incarcerated in America. It was just the
latest such statistic.

Today, one in nine African American men between
the ages of 20 and 34 is locked up. In 1970, our prisons held fewer
than 200,000 people; now that number exceeds 1.5 million, and when you
add in local jails, it’s 2.3 million–1 in 100 American adults.

Since
the 1980s, we’ve sat by as the numbers inched higher and our prison
system ballooned, swallowing up an ever-larger portion of the
citizenry. But do statistics like these, no matter how disturbing,
really mean anything anymore? What does it take to get us to sit up and
notice?

We’re here.

We’re standing up.

We’re shouting down.