According to the United States Department of Justice in 2005 the US has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world with over 700 persons per 100,000 in prison or jail. In 2008 The Pew Center released the report "One in 100: Behind Bars in America" which indicates that more than 1 in 100 adults are incarcerated in the United States. We have 5% of the world's population and nearly 25% of the world's prison population.  I hope you see something wrong with that.

Compare that to England and Wales, which have 148 persons imprisoned per 100,000 residents; Norway was 66 inmates per 100,000 and the rate in New Zealand was 186 per 100,000. More than 3 times the number of incarcerated anywhere else in the world.

As of June 2008 American prisons and jails had 2,310,984 inmates. Even though crime has declined by about 25% from 1988 - 2008, we have over 7 million Americans under some form of correctional control. Over 7 million Americans are either in prison, on parole or probation.

And a very troubling statistic is that 70% of prisoners in the United States are non-whites. Remember the 700 per 100,000 statistic I mentioned earlier? That is what is known as a calculated average to provide a look at statistical information. Get this: According to the US DOJ web site in 2008 "there were 4,777 black male inmates, nearly 5,000 black men in federal or state prison per 100,000 US residents". Approximately 10% of all black males in the United States between the ages of 25 and 29 are incarcerated,compared to just above 1% of white males.

We have about a million people that are nonviolent offenders. 20% of the offenses are directly related to drugs meaning that they were caught with some kind of drug either for use or trafficking. Certainly a fair percentage of these people are addicted and would prefer to not live a life like this but with no real answers how to live a different life they are lost as far as what to do to make the change.

The United States has the highest documented per capita rate of incarceration of any country in the world. If we just take the time to help them correct the issues in their life in a comprehensive fashion, not only educating them and providing counseling but with our after care programs they have every opportunity to change their lives.