Section II: Incarceration & Its Consequences
Behind the Walls
Let them eat...
- Cost charged by the Aramark Corporation to feed each Florida prisoner per day349: $2.32
- Number of years that the California budget for each prisoner's meal has remained unchanged350: 14
- Expenditure on food per California prisoner per day351: $2.45
- Average expenditure on food in the United States per person per day, 2001352: $8.12
Prisoner health
- Percent of jails that do not provide mental health evaluations of their prisoners353: 40%
- Percent of prisons that do not provide mental health evaluations of their prisoners354: 17%
- Percent of state and federal prisons that do not comply with mandatory Tuberculosis screening regulations355: 10%
- Percent of local jails that do not comply with mandatory Tuberculosis screening regulations356: 50%
- Number of Tuberculosis infections detected in admitted prisoners in 2000357: 21,598
- Estimated number of active tuberculosis cases that would be prevented for every 100,000 prisoners tested and treated for TB358: 989
- Maximum estimate of percent of jail inmates screened for syphilis359: 25%
- Costs that could be averted, in dollars, for every 10,000 prisoners given routine syphilis screening and treatment360: $1.6 million
- Percent of prisoners known to be positive for HIV, 2000361: 2.0%
- Percent of U.S. population estimated to be positive for HIV362: 0.3%
- Percent of male prisoners known to be positive for HIV, 2000363: 2.0%
- Percent of female prisoners known to be positive for HIV364: 3.6%
- Of prisoner deaths, percent that are AIDS related365: 6%
- Percent of New York state prisoners known to be HIV positive, 2000366: 8.5%
- Number of confirmed AIDS cases per 10,000 prisoners, 2000367: 52
- Number of confirmed AIDS cases per 10,000 U.S. residents, 2000368: 13
- Estimated number of HIV cases that would be prevented for every 10,000 prisoners offered HIV testing and counseling369: 3
- Estimated number of times prisoners are infected with Hepatitis C compared to the general population370: 9-10
Older prisoners
- Number of prisoners over age 55 in California371: 5,800
- Number of times it is more expensive to incarcerate a prisoner over age 55, compared to a younger prisoner372: 3
- Percent of men paroled after age 55 who return to prison373: 2%
Education programs in prisons
- Percent of prison wardens that strongly support educational and vocational programming374: 93%
- Percent of state prisons that offer vocational training, 2000375: 55.7%
- Percent of state prisoners that have participated in GED/high school programs while in prison, 1997376: 23.4%
- Percent of state prisoners that have participated in college courses while in prison, 1997377: 9.9%
- Percent of state prisoners that have participated in vocational training programs while in prison, 1997378: 32.2%
- Minimum number of college programs in prisons in the United States, 1982379: 350
- In a 1991 New York study, percent of prisoners who enrolled in a college program, did not complete it, and then were released who returned to prison380: 44.6%
- In a 1991 New York study, percent of prisoners who completed a college program who returned to prison381: 26.4%
- Year Congress and President Clinton denied prisoners access to Pell Grants, inspiring most states to eliminate prisoner eligibility for state tuition grants382: 1994
- In 2001, there were less than this number of college programs in prison383: 12
This page is an excerpt from The Prison Index: Taking the Pulse of the Crime Control Industry (2003) by Peter Wagner, published by the Western Prison Project and the Prison Policy Initiative. Footnotes for all facts are available in the print version.
