via Maxpixel
When it comes to locking people up, the USA is best. Nobody does it better. As a matter of fact, the U.S. is so good at imprisoning people, individual states in this country have higher incarceration rates than WHOLE OTHER COUNTRIES!
Louisiana used to be the number one state when it came to locking folks up, but that just changed. Oklahoma just took the number one spot for this horrible record. They’re putting 1,079 people per 100,000 in cages with Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama following closely.
It’s BAD. REALLY. BAD.
Consider this: according to the Prison Policy Initiative, which tracks the data about these incarceration rates, “States like New York and Massachusetts appear progressive, but even these states lock people up at higher rates than nearly every other country on earth.”
To make things even worse, Oklahoma is locking so many people up, they can’t keep up with hiring enough guards to manage the prisons. That spells disaster waiting to happen and it can and HAS led to major violent issues. Other states are doing the same thing too.
So, what’s the problem? Other countries don’t rely as heavily on prisons and policing to solve every single problem like America. We can avoid locking people up by making sure resources like education and healthcare are readily available to EVERYONE. Then things can really change!