- Description
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The country has only 5% of the world's population, but one-quarter of its prisoners. Many prisons are overcrowded, house 1 times as many mentally ill individuals as state hospitals, keep individuals locked up for long periods of time and hold a far greater percentage, of the country's minority population. Nearly two-thirds of those released every year return to prison and discrimination in employment and housing encumbers many who return to communities nationwide. Our recommendations focus on ways in which prison reform can create greater opportunities for individuals to access employment and education opportunities either as prevention and reentry strategies or as inside-the-wall approaches in order to ensure that a greater number of individuals are more prepared for employment -- and less likely to recidivate - when released.
