America : the world's number ONE incarcerator.

With more than 2,319,258 Americans in jail at the start of 2008, the USA has become the world number one incarcerator, more than in China, in Russia or any other country in the world, according to a report released 28 February 2008 by the Pew Center.

ONE out of every 99.1 adults is in jail.

49 billion dollars were spent on corrections last year.

The increase rate for prison costs were SIX TIMES greater than that for higher education spending.

In Kentucky, the crime rate has increased only 3% in the last 30 years, but the state's prison population has increased by 600%.

The prison population for White men between the ages of 20 and 34 is one in thirty;

for Black men it is ONE IN NINE for the same age group.

There is One in every 355 WHITE women behind bars for the age group of 35 to 39;

compared with ONE in every 100 BLACK women of the same age group.

The US is the world leader in prisoners per capita (750 per 100,000) compared with Russia (628 per 100,000).

The USA is also a leader with 53 capital punishment executions, last year in the USA, in "good" company with China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Sudan.