For the first time in U.S. history, more than one of every 100 adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America\'s rank as the world\'s No. 1 incarcerator. It urges states to curtail corrections spending by placing fewer low-risk offenders behind bars.

Using state-by-state data, the report says 2,319,258 Americans were in jail or prison at the start of 2008 _ one out of every 99.1 adults. Whether per capita or in raw numbers, it\'s more than any other nation.

According to the report, the average annual cost per prisoner was $23,876, with Rhode Island spending the most ($44,860) and Louisiana the least ($13,009). It said California _ which faces a $16 billion budget shortfall _ spent $8.8 billion on corrections last year, while Texas, which has slightly more inmates, was a distant second with spending of $3.3 billion.

On average, states spend 6.8 percent of their general fund dollars on corrections, the report said. Oregon had the highest spending rate, at 10.9 percent; Alabama the lowest at 2.6 percent.

Four states _ Vermont, Michigan, Oregon and Connecticut _ now spend more on corrections than they do on higher education, the report said.

For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling,\" the report said. \"While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine.\"

The racial disparity for women also is stark. One of every 355 white women aged 35 to 39 is behind bars, compared with one of every 100 black women in that age group.

The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails. That\'s out of almost 230 million American adults.

The report said the United States incarcerates more people than any other nation, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which round out the Top 10.

gee bob oregon has a man haters law; a woman can lie and have you hauled away, never having to prove anything and the man has no defence from this so the courts and attorneys make money just doing the job looking at you as piece of crap. so now that my woman is done extorting me for money/srtipping of everything possible now i am on my second attorney that has spent three months tward recovering my business equipment yea my putz ball pump on the reed site that states like new condition; well do you think she is going to jail for changing my clear title, fifty buck says i bet not. so seven years and seventy thousand bucks and this is my reward for being in this business. 

AMAZING!!!

Perhaps we have an overabundance of dumb-ass laws???

That was sort of my point, sorry you were caught up in the stupidity.