This piece is part of my 2016–2026 archive migration. Some original formatting, content, and external links may be missing, changed, or not be optimized.
Prison & Jail Facts
The numbers only continue to escalate. The disparity is evident and significant amongst incarcerated African-Americans.
Talk to any black person, and most likely, they know another black person or know of a black person within their social circles who is in jail or has gone to jail. Often the crimes are minor, or they didn’t commit the crimes. But even for more significant crimes, they still get harsher sentences than their white counterparts.
It’s good business to lock people up – especially people of color who have fewer resources to fight their case.
You can get a whole college education and still not spend as many tax dollars as you do every year on inmates.
Among the 45 states that provided data (representing 1.29 million of the 1.33 million total people incarcerated in all 50 state prison systems), the total cost per inmate averaged $33,274 and ranged from a low of $14,780 in Alabama to a high of $69,355 in New York (source: vera.org).
If we focused on educating the parts of society with fewer resources and provided them with more resources, we would have lower incarceration rates for people of color. No doubt.
This content is for informational purposes only — not professional advice. Consult a qualified professional before making any major decisions.