“This isn’t directly related, but since it involves Georgia (and jail), it does call for noting a staggering statistic I saw while poking around the ACLU blog today. A recent post discussed the ‘tens of thousands’ of Georgia prisoners who staged a nonviolent strike in December to protest the inhumane conditions of the state’s prisons: ‘Georgia is one of the largest incarcerators in the country, with one in 13 Georgians under correctional control. Unfortunately, while Georgia’s situation is extreme, it is not unique. The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world (yes, even China). There are approximately 1.6 million people in prisons in this country. These numbers are not a reflection of a rise in crime or population growth, but rather the result of more and more state and federal policies that incarcerate more people and keep them locked up longer.’”
It staggers me that the absolute number of prisoners in the United States exceeds that in China. GDP and the valuation of the yuan be damned. If we’re primarily concerned with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in this country, then we need to work on the number of people who are incarcerated. That’s an important number.
And one in thirteen people incarcerated in Georgia! That’s fucking ridiculous. (More so, even, than different exotic fishes!)
