Which State Has More People -- Your State or the Prison State?
drcnet.org
Almost a year ago (February), the US incarcerated population
passed the two million mark. Earlier this week, the results of
the 2000 US Census were released, numbers estimated as of April
1, 2000. How do the populations of the 50 states compare with
the prison state?
Nearly a third of them are smaller, some of them much smaller:
Alaska, 626,932; Delaware, 783,600; Hawaii, 1,211,537; Idaho,
1,293,953; Maine, 1,274,923; Montana, 902,195; Nebraska,
1,711,263; Nevada, 1,998,257; New Hampshire, 1,235,786; New
Mexico, 1,819,046; North Dakota, 642,200; Rhode Island,
1,048,319; South Dakota, 754,844; Vermont, 608,827, West
Virginia, 1,808,344; Wyoming, 493,782.
Also smaller than the prison state are the three smallest US
states combined: Wyoming + Vermont + Alaska, 1,729,541.
What would be the social and economic impact of incarcerating all
the residents of these three states? |
