VOLUME 10 ISSUE 1 VOLUME 10 SEPTEMBER 2015 ISSUE 3 NOVEMBER 2015 Prisons in the United States: Inmates, Policies, and Profits By Patricia A. Maulden, Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution,
[email protected] commentary n October 2015, a state, about 3,350 left for program crafted by halfway houses or home Ithe independent U.S. confinement, and 1,763 Sentencing Commission will be turned over to the allowed about 6,114 fed- Department of Immigration eral prisoners convicted and Customs Enforcement of drug trafficking early for possible deportation release, reducing their sen- hearings. Of this group, tences reduced by a ‘minus 24% are white, 34% African two’ recalibration of the American, and 38% Hispanic Drug Quantity Table used (See The Marshall Project, to determine offense level. DOJ Bureau of Justice Another 8,500 prison- Statistics, ACLU, NAACP, ers may be released by Federal Register, and Global November 2016, and over Research for additional time a total of Patricia A. Maulden. information). 46,000 federal Photo: Mason Creative Serviices. To give some sense of Inside This Issue... prisoners proportion to the prison 2 Network: The Politics of Victimhood could benefit population, in 1972 the in Conflict Resolution from sentencing adjustments. U.S. population was 209.9 million with 3 Initiatives: From Counter-Narrative Local news accounts of less than 300,000 inmates in federal and to New Multi-Track Diplomacy the initial release of about fewer state prisons. Today the population 4 Event: Association for Conflict 6,000 caused some citizen is about 320 million with about 2.2 million Resolution: October 6-10, 2015 concern and fear that the inmates in federal, state, local, and private 5 Press: Media Appearances former inmates would prisons.