Press Release  | 11/30/2006  US Prison, Parole and Probation
Population Skyrockets; 1 in 32 Adults Incarcerated or Court
Supervised, Department of Justice Report Shows   Drug Offenses
Account for Prison Population Boom Incarcerating Nonviolent Drug
Offenders Wastes Billions of Dollars; Destroys Lives  A record 7
million people - 1 in 32 American adults - were behind bars,
probation or parole by the end of last year, according to a
report released today by the Justice Department.  Drug law
violations play a disproportionate role. From 1995 to 2003,
inmates in federal prison for drug law violations accounted for
a 49 percent increase in prison population growth.  "I think
these numbers just don't register with most Americans," said
Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance,
the nation's leading organization promoting alternatives to the
war on drugs. "They only make sense when you point out that the
United States has five percent of the world's population and 25
percent of the world's inca