7 million, and counting: We need these kinds of milestones?
Silja J.A. Talvi

On Wednesday, Nov. 2, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice
Statistics (BJS) released findings that the total number of adults under
some form of American correctional supervision reached 6,996,500 last
year. (To put this number in perspective, that’s more than the entire
population of Israel.)

Last month, the BJS also announced a record-breaking high of 2.3 million
incarcerated Americans, at a lock-em-up rate that outranks any other
country in the world. Since 1995, in fact, the number of people
imprisoned, or on parole or probation, has grown by over 1.6 million
adults. One out of every 31 American adults is now under some kind of
correctional supervision.

If you’re still one of those of us left in the “free world,” this might
be an opportune time to take a good, hard look at the situation. The way
things are going, life in a cellblock may not be as much of a far-fetched
reality as you might think.