1% National Incarceration Rate

Back in 2005 my friend Bart lamented that the U.S. was approaching a day when 1% of our population was in jail. Well, sadly that day is today, or sort of, if you count only adults. Today I read that 1 out of every 99.1 American adults is incarcerated, and for African Americans the statistic is one out of every 15. Moreover, I live in Louisiana, the place with the highest incarceration rate in the world, a rate 62% above the national average. We seem to favor bombing countries over diplomacy, and locking people up instead of investing in education and rehab.