*NEW* Speak Out on Behalf of the Torres Family!
Carlos Alberto Torres is one of the longest held political prisoners in the world, incarcerated for 29 years. In May, 2009, Torres was recommended for parole. However, in June, prison officials alleged they found knives hidden in the light fixture of a cell shared by Torres and 9 other inmates, and brought a weapons charge against them all. The charge brought the circumstances under review by the parole commission; if the parole commission does not approve his release, Torres will not be granted another parole hearing for 15 years. Torres' lawyer states that these actions are "a transparent attempt to derail his release after 29 years in prison, and to isolate and further punish him."
| Criminal Justice in the United States |
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More than 2.2 million people are currently incarcerated in the United States today, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. About 1.5 million are in federal or state facilities for adults. The remainder are in local jails, juvenile facilities, military prisons, jails on Indian reservations, or immigration facilities. This is not the full picture, however. More than 5 million additional persons are under Justice supervision, either on probation or on parole. The number of people currently active within the system is over 7 million.
The United States imprisons more of its own people than any other country in the world. For every 100,000 U.S. residents, more than 700 are in prison. In contrast, the incarceration rate per 100,000 residents in the U.K. is 125; in Canada, 110; and in the Netherlands, France and Italy it is 90. In Japan, the incarceration rate is 40 per 100,000. Of all the prisoners in the world, one out of every four is incarcerated in the United States.
The number of U.S. prisoners continues to grow. The prison population has more than quadrupled since 1980, and has risen sharply for women and youth. Greatest increases are in the South and West regions, but the general trend is consistent across all states. Approximately 1 in every 100 men and 1 in every 1,700 women in America resides in a federal or state facility. If this trend persists, we can expect that one in every 20 of America's children will serve time in a state or federal prison.
