WHAT ON EARTH?

Behind Bars

At least 8 million people are being held in prisons and jails around the
world, more than half of them in the United States, China and Russia. While
the United States has the largest prison population, Russia has a higher
rate proportional to its population. The wide disparities in incarceration
rates among nations reflect differences in the types of crimes committed
but also varying law enforcement, judicial and corrections systems and the
degree of their application.

Rates of incarceration per 100,000 population

In countries with a population greater than 20 million

Highest

Russia: 687

U.S.: 682

Ukraine: 413

S. Africa: 321

Uzbekistan: 258

Others

Canada: 115

Turkey: 95

France: 90

Lowest

Japan: 39

Bangladesh: 37

Nepal: 29

India: 24

Indonesia: 20

Number of prisoners in the late 1990s

In millions

U.S.: 1.86

China: 1.41

Russia: 1.01

India: .23

Ukraine: .21

Brazil: .17

South Africa: .14

Thailand: .13

Mexico: .10

Iran: .10

NOTE: Low imprisonment rates may reflect a low crime rate, such as in
Japan, or a weakly developed police, judicial or corrections system in
which many criminals avoid jail. High imprisonment rates can reflect the
work of a repressive police state, a high rate of crime, long prison
sentences or the use of mandatory sentences. In the United States, the high
rate is affected by the large number of prisoners convicted of drug-related
crimes.

SOURCES: Worldwatch Institute, U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (for U.S.
data), Britain's Home Office Research