Prisons and the Federal Budget

image
Heather RogersHeather Rogers
Published: 27 Jun, 2012
2 min read

By 2008, prisons within the United States held well over a fourth of the world’s inmates. A surprising number since the U.S. makes up only 5% of the world’s total population. By December 31, 2010, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that state and federal correctional authorities had jurisdiction of over 1,612,395 prisoners, a number that has now reached closer to 2 million. The prediction that prison population will likely continue to grow is reflected in the President’s proposed 2013 budget, in which federal prisons are one of the few agencies which will not suffer any cuts.

The president’s proposed budget will secure a 4.2-percent increase over 2012 for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), bringing its total budget to more than $6.8 billion. Federal prison population alone is expected to increase by 6,500 inmates next year, and the budget increase has been requested in order to account for the growth.

With cuts to defense, homeland security, Medicare, Medicaid, and many others, the BOP is seeking one of the largest budget increases of any federal agency.

According to the Pew Charitable Trust, between 1970 and 2005, U.S. prison population increased by 700%. Currently it is estimated that 1 of every 182 Americans is incarcerated in a federal or state prison.

With the highest incarceration rate in the world, the United States is trailed by China and Russia who have the second and third largest prison populations. China follows the United States with approx. 1.5 million inmates, although China’s population outnumbers that of the U.S. by 4.27 to 1. Russia comes in third with nearly .9 million prisoners.

The median incarceration rate of all other countries is roughly a sixth of the American rate.

Why does the United States have more prisoners than elsewhere?

IVP Donate

Adam Liptak of the New York Times summed up the American approach to crime and punishment as follows,

“Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.”

While it must be said that certain states, namely California, have been actively trying to lower prison populations to avoid overcrowding, the prison system in the United States has grown to the point of becoming a billion dollar industry. Crime rates have gone down significantly since the 1990’s and yet prison population has continue to rise, to the benefit of those investing in the prison industry. As a result, the prison industry has often been described as one of the fastest growing industries in America.

The imprisoning of persons for non-violent crimes, to the extent it is done in the U.S., is equaled nowhere else in the world. If the federal budget funds an increase in prison beds, law enforcement will have no problem filling them.

You Might Also Like

Proposition 50 voter guide
California Prop 50: Partisan Power Play or Necessary Counterpunch?
November 4 marks a special election for what has become the most controversial ballot measure in California in recent memory: Proposition 50, which would circumvent congressional districts drawn by the state’s independent redistricting commission for a legislative-drawn map....
01 Oct, 2025
-
9 min read
court gavel.
Virtual Discussion: The Fight for Equal Independent Voting Rights Makes it to SCOTUS
Every major voting rights movement in U.S. history – whether successful or not – has intertwined with landmark litigation. This was the case for women’s suffrage. It was the case for civil rights. And it is the case in the ongoing effort to protect the right of all voters to have equal participation in taxpayer-funded elections – something millions of independent voters are denied across the U.S....
29 Sep, 2025
-
2 min read
Supreme Court building
SCOTUS Considers Challenge to Closed Primaries -- Here's Why It Is Such a Big Deal
In a dramatic step forward for litigation challenging closed primaries, the U.S. Supreme Court has indicated they are going to conference to discuss whether to grant a writ of certiorari to Polelle v. Florida Secretary of State; a case challenging Florida's closed primaries that Open Primaries has supported since its inception....
26 Sep, 2025
-
2 min read