State [Minnesota] is No. 1 in prison growth

[Dickie Flatt]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5366914.html

Minnesota led the nation in its incarceration growth rate last year, the government reported Sunday.

The state incarcerated 13.2 percent more inmates from June 30, 2003, to June 30, 2004, than it did the previous year, making it No. 1 in prison population growth rate in the country, according to figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The number of prisoners rose from 7,612 to 8,613.

The nation experienced a 2.3 percent rise, an increase of 48,000 inmates.

The uptick isn't a total surprise, said Department of Corrections Commissioner Joan Fabian, who attributed it to methamphetamine arrests and stiffer sentencing laws.

[Lindacooks]

1. I attribute it to the crappy economy,

JOAN. How embarrassing for you, JOAN.

[foo_bar]

2. I attribute it to "mandatory minimum" sentencing

* State legislative changes made during the 1980s, particularly those involving criminal sanctions, have directly increased correctional populations.

The Legislature has defined new crimes and reclassified others into higher legal categories for which the prescribed penalties are more severe. It has also increased the statutory maximum sentences for about 25 crimes and has enacted more mandatory minimum sentences.

Determinate sentencing, especially mandatory minimums, is often cited as a major cause of prison and jail overcrowding. In Minnesota, mandatory minimum sentences have been enacted for drug and alcohol offenses, such as repeat DWI and second offense possession and sale of illegal drugs. Several mandatory minimum sentences affect local jails because they mandate sentences of less than one year.

http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/1991/pe9107.htm

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Does Minnesota have more privately-run prisons than public?

If so, then there is a profit margin at issue. A corporation does not build a prison without using it. Therefore, the state is under an obligation to provide the corporation with "residents" for its jails by making more arrests and convicting more often. And the state pays the corporation to process and incarcerate on its behalf.

[saigon68]

4. Its just operation "Jail the Negro"

You know those rap guys, who sell and smoke crack, let their boxers overflow their too large baggy pants and wear their baseball hats on back wards. They are visually annoying to all the right wing fundie nut-job religious fanatics.