OVER 2M IN AMERICAN JAILS

The number of people in US prisons and jails last year topped 2 million for
the first time, driven by get-tough sentencing policies that mandate long
terms for drug offenders and other criminals, the US government reported
yesterday.

The federal government accounted for more inmates than any state, with
almost 162,000, according to a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics,
part of the Justice Department. That number includes the transfer of about
8900 District of Columbia prisoners to the federal system.

California, Texas, Florida and New York were the four biggest state prison
systems, mirroring their status as the most populous states.

But in Texas, California, New York, Illinois and five other states the
prisoner populations fell compared with the year before as prison releases
outpaced admissions.

Some states modified their parole rules to deal with steep budget
shortfalls, leading to an overall growth rate in state prison populations
of just under 1 per cent from June 2001 to June 2002. The federal prison
population grew by 5.7 per cent. The total inmate population on June 30,
2002 was 2.1 million, an increase of 2.8 per cent from the year before.
Two-thirds were in federal or state prisons, with the other third held in
jails, the report said.

The report did not count all juvenile offenders, which if included in the
past would have driven the US's inmate population over the 2 million mark
years ago. The report did note that there were more than 10,000 inmates
under 18 held in adult prisons and jails last year.

Malcolm Young, executive director of The Sentencing Project, said the
increase continued a prison growth trend stemming from tough penalties
meted out to drug abusers and traffickers as well as "three strikes" laws
that can mandate life sentences for repeat offenders. "It's part of the
get-tough scheme. It's been going on for 30 years," said Mr Young, whose
non-profit organisation advocates alternatives to incarceration, such as
drug courts and treatment programs.

This is especially true at the federal level, where efforts to reduce
sentences for such crimes as crack cocaine trafficking have failed in
Congress. The Supreme Court this month upheld California's "three strikes"
law even though the defendant's final crime involved stealing golf clubs.

US Attorney-General John Ashcroft has pushed for tougher prison sentences,
including a recent directive barring many people convicted of white-collar
and non-violent crimes from doing their time in halfway houses.

"The prospect of prison, more than any other sanction, is feared by
white-collar criminals and has a powerful deterrent effect," Deputy
attorney-general Larry Thompson said in a memo announcing the change.