Section III: The Prison Economy

Budget Priorities: Education vs. Incarceration

• First year that the 50 states combined spent more on building prisons than colleges427: 1995
• Number of state universities built in California, 1984-1994428: 1
• Number of prisons built in California, 1984-1994429: 21
• Increase in corrections spending in New York between 1984 and 1994430: $761 million
• Decrease in spending on state colleges and universities in New York between 1984 and 1994431: $615 million
• Average percent increase in state spending on higher education, 1985-2000432: 29%
• Average percent increase in state spending on corrections, 1985-2000433: 175%
• Number of African-American men in prison or jail, 2000434: 602,900
• Number of African-American men in higher education, 2000435: 603,032
• Increase in African-American male prison population, 1980-2000436: 460,000
• Increase in African-American male higher education population, 1980-2000437: 139,293

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.