1 IN 75 MEN WERE IN PRISON OR JAIL IN 2003

Reaction Is Mixed To 2.9 Percent Rise

WASHINGTON -- America's inmate population grew by 2.9 percent last year, to
almost 2.1 million people, with one of every 75 men living in prison or jail.

The inmate population continued its rise despite a fall in the crime rate
and efforts by many states to reduce some sentences, especially for
low-level drug offenders.

The report issued yesterday by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice
Statistics attributes much of the increase to get-tough policies enacted
during the 1980s and '90s, such as mandatory drug sentences, "three strikes
and you're out" laws for repeat offenders, and "truth in sentencing" laws
that restrict early releases.

Whether that's good or bad depends on who is asked.

"The prison system just grows like a weed in the yard," said Vincent
Schiraldi, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, which pushes
for a more lenient system.

Without reforms, he said, prison populations will continue to grow "almost
as if they are on autopilot, regardless of their high costs and
disappointing crime-control impact."

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the report shows the success of efforts
to take hard-core criminals off the streets. "It is no accident that
violent crime is at a 30-year low while prison population is up," Ashcroft
said. "Violent and recidivist criminals are getting tough sentences, while
law-abiding Americans are enjoying unprecedented safety."

There were 715 inmates for every 100,000 US residents at midyear in 2003,
up from 703 a year earlier, the report found.

The nation's incarceration rate tops the world, according to The Sentencing
Project, another group that promotes alternatives to prison. That compares
with a rate of 169 per 100,000 residents in Mexico, 116 in Canada, and 143
for England and Wales.

Russia's prison population, which once rivaled the one in the United
States, has dropped to 584 per 100,000 because of prisoner amnesties in
recent years, the group said.

The US inmate population in 2003 grew at its fastest pace in four years.
The number of inmates increased 1.8 percent in state prisons, 7.1 percent
in federal prisons, and 3.9 percent in local jails.

In 2003, 68 percent of prison and jail inmates were members of racial or
ethnic minorities, the government said. An estimated 12 percent of all
black men in their 20s were in jails or prisons, as were 3.7 percent of
Hispanic men, and 1.6 percent of white men in that age group, according to
the report.

The report also said:

Only nine states logged a decrease in prison population, led by Rhode
Island with a 3.4 percent drop; and Massachusetts, 1.0 percent.

The inmate population in 10 states increased at least 5 percent. Some of
the smallest state prison systems saw the largest increase: Vermont's grew
by 12.2 percent; and Maine, 9.1 percent.

The number of women in state and federal prisons grew by 5 percent,
compared to a 2.7 percent increase for men. Still, men greatly outnumber
women, 1.36 million to 100,102.

Local jails held 691,301 inmates.