Needless incarceration

Unnecessary use of prisons
Inappropriate imprisonment
Excessive detention

Incidence

In Russia in 1996, 694 people per 100,000 were in prison (compared with, for example, 75 in Belgium). In the USA, which is second after Russia in terms of rate of imprisonment, it was reported that in 1998, one in 163 Americans was in prison (triple the number in 1980) and six times the average in Europe. In the USA, blacks are the subject of disproportionately high rates of imprisonment.

High levels of imprisonment have been common in history. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the UK operated a system of severely punitive punishment laws designed to provide cheap labour for its colonies, notably America. People were apprehended on suspicion alone and shipped off to the colonies, with the blessing of a magistrate, where they were resold as labourers to the highest bidder. A prison crisis in the UK was even created at the time of the American revolution when such shipments were disrupted.

Claim

Sending many offenders to prison represents an incredible waste in terms of money, manpower, facilities, and the infliction of human suffering. Incarceration may do harm to the individual involved by immersing him into a dependence-prone, criminally oriented counter-culture behind institution walls. Many offenders could perhaps be rehabilitated outside prison walls and could be employed in necessary social services.