WASHINGTON --America's prison population grew by 2.9 percent last year, to almost 2.1 million inmates, with one of every 75 men living in prison or jail.
The inmate population continued its rise despite a fall in the crime rate and many states' efforts to reduce some sentences, especially for low-level drug offenders.
The report issued yesterday by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics attributes much of the increase to get-tough policies enacted during the 1980s and '90s.
Whether that's good or bad depends on who is asked.
The prison system just grows like a weed in the yard
said Vincent Schiraldi, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, which pushes for a more lenient system.
But Attorney General John Ashcroft said the report shows the success of efforts to take hardcore criminals off the streets.
It is no accident that violent crime is at a 30-year low while prison population is up Ashcroft said. Violent and recidivist criminals are getting tough sentences while law-abiding Americans are enjoying unprecedented safety.
The nation's incarceration rate tops that of any other country in the world, according to The Sentencing Project, another group that promotes alternatives to prison.
The 2003 U.S. inmate population grew at its fastest pace
in four years. The number of inmates increased 7.1 percent in federal prisons and 3.9 percent in local jails.
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