From Pew Research: One in 100

For the first time in the nation's history, more than one in every 100 adults is confined in jail or prison. The Pew Center on the States just released a study that looks at recividism rates and the efficient use of public dollars to ensure safer communities at a time when state budgets are tightening.

Some Arkansas statistics of note:
• Our prison population as of 1/1/08: 14,314 (a 4.3% increase over one year).
• Corrections spending, FY 2007: 7.7% of General Revenue
• For every dollar we spend on higher ed, we spend 46 cents on corrections
• In 1987, we spent 14 cents on corrections for every dollar spent on higher ed
• 8.5% of Arkansas state employees are in the corrections workforce
• Our incarceration rate (673 inmates per 100K residents) isn't as high as most other southern states. Louisiana has the highest rate in the country (1,138 inmates per 100K residents)

Here's the full report.

States have long used the same philosophy on prisons as football coaches have seeking a bigger stadium: "build it and the will come." Of course, the purposes of incarceration include (1) retribution/punishment and (2) crime control. While prison certainly affects crime rates, other factors include the number and tactics of police officers and other cultural problems that include gangs, drugs, etc. It's an interesting study that gives states potential policies to maximize the use of public funds to reduce crime (without reducing or releasing inmates as the solution to save money). Here's an addendum to the study that's worthwhile.