Who's in Jail?

The number of inmates in the U-S hits an all time high.... leading all other countries. That according to a new national study just released by "the Pew Center". The study finds that one in every 100 American adults can be found behind bars. And here locally Vanderburgh County Sheriff Eric Williams says over the course of 10 years theyll have booked over 100-thousand people in a community with 170-thousand residents. He blames more laws and stricter penalties for some of it. Williams went on to say at any given time 454 to 521 inmates can be found in the jail which has 512 beds. They are mostly white males in their 20s but African American males are not far behind. Most of them in jail for warrants and drug related charges. A study by the Pew center released Thursday says its for those exact reasons that the prison population from 2006 to 2008 is growing in most states. Illinois grew by .4 percent, Indiana by .6, but the biggest by far is Kentucky at 12 percent. Bill Stanczykiewicz from the Indiana Youth Institute says its lack of education. He says if you dont have a high level of education youre much more likely to commit crimes and go to jail. But out of the 3 states Kentucky spent only 35 cents on corrections for every 1.00 on education. The Pew report say Kentuckys problems stem from keeping inmates longer with not enough diversion programs. And with up to 49 billion now being spent on corrections throughout the US...the pew report and Sheriff Williams agree it may be time to think of more alternatives. For more information you can go to www.pewcenteronthestates.org