The Washington D.C.-based Justice Policy Institute came out with a report today that examined jails nationwide. The findings: Orange County has the 9th highest jail population with 6,455 inmates. Los Angeles is highest ranked — with 19,062 inmates.
– Rachanee Srisavasdi
California used to rank #1 in education, now it ranks #1 in prison population (42nd in education). Appeal to fear through “tough on crime” and “war on drugs” just don’t work. Studies have shown that most incarceration results in nothing more than graduate school for criminals, and once institutionalized with not rehabilitation, treatment, education, and/or training, the majority recidivate and become lifetime members of our justice system at a rate of no less than $20,000/year to up to and above $40,000/year for geriatrics, chronically or persistently ill (including mental illness), or isolation populations.
The majority of our prison populations consist of non-violent offenders, mostly substance abuse related. Many have co-occurring mental disorders which often go untreated throughout the process of incarceration and re-entry, leaving little hope of success for the individual.
Currently the United States has the highest per capita rate of prison population, including Russia and the greatest overall population even when compared to China. Overall, our justice system in this country is broken, there is now 1 in every 100 people in this country incarcerated, this number skyrockets when those out on probation and/or parole are put into the mix.
In California alone there are more correctional officers than there are teachers throughout the state. More money is spent on corrections in California alone than the gross domestic product of most countries, over $6 billion a year. Studies have shown that the lack of education is a severe risk factor of criminal behavior and substance abuse, so what do our elected officials do? They cut funding to our schools and raise tuition in our colleges and universities.
The American Prison Industrial Complex is seemingly the only organization in the world that gets paid more money the worse of a job they do (well… almost any “law” enforcement agency I guess). I mean, our $3 Trillion government air defense system (whose budget is now doubled) was so out dated it wasn’t even able to stop 10 guys with box cutters from… oh well… that’s another rant.
Break it down for me;
Legal status
Ethnicity
Socio economic situation
Mental illness
Inquiring minds want to know
RE: Legal Status
DEPORT all the illegals in the OC and LA jails and those numbers will drop.
Not to mention the tax $$ saved.
You really want to see it broken down? Here let me make a guess and see how close I can get.
9000Hispanic Inmates (legal status at about a 45% legal)
3000 White inmates
2000 African American
3000 Asian
2000 Of various decent including but not limited to Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander and American Indian
Mental Status (or as the previous comment described “illness”) considering the poor diagnosis made more than often in jail (due to lack of funding and or staff) hard to make a accurate count but I would guess just based on the figures I have seen in the past somewhere around 30 percent actually have been diagnosed.
As for social economic status. Well come on. Do we really even need to guess. Poverty breeds crime, we all know that. It may not breed all crime but it breeds the basis for most crimes.
Since the article was primarily regarding Orange County jails, I presumed Dina was asking for a breakdown of inmates in Orange County. I would like that information as well. My guess would be:
70% Hispanic, of which 45% are illegal
15% Black
10% White
3% Asian
2% Other
50% Mental Disabilities - drug/alcohol addiction, ADHD, ADD, Bi-Polar, Conduct Disorder, Depression and more
15% Middle to upper-middle class (mostly addicts)
This is purely a guess on my part. I do know that Los Angeles County Jails house blacks as a majority of their population.
Back in the late 1970’s there was a study done in California State Prisons. Of the black population incarcerated for violent crimes, 100% admitted to being hit, beaten and or abused as children.
Shouldn’t we, as a society get a clue from all of this? Wouldn’t we all be better off if measures were taken to prevent crimes. We could try education, including classes that teach how to apply for a job, how to manage a checking account, how to apply to rent & put utilities in our own names, how to prioritize and other necessary information needed on a daily basis just to live. In other words, how to be responsible for yourself. I’ve counseled people who never even realized they had alternatives and could live just as mainstream as anyone else. It’s a tragedy in this great country of ours!