The US has the highest number of prisoners in the free world, followed by China and Russia.
In this country one in every thirty two Americans was either in jail, on probation, or on parole at the end of 2005; this according to a study byThe International Center for Prison Studies at King’s College in London.
The rate in this country is 737 people per 100,000 while most industrialized nations range somewhere around 100 per 100,000. Our prison population has almost doubled in the last ten years.
In 2005 Escambia County averaged 619 persons in jail per 100,000. That doesn’t include parolees. The state Dept of Corrections doesn’t track parolees by county – Pensacola region which includes Santa Rosa and Okaloosa has over 5,680 people on parole. Let’s say just 20% are in Escambia County that gets the ratio up to 998 per 100,000.
Poverty, poor education – both lead to more crime.