According to the World Prison Brief (WPB) the United States had the world’s highest incarceration rate from 2001 (when the US overtook Russia) through October 4, 2022 (US rate of 629 per 100,000 population at that time).
Rummaging around through other sources gives me the idea the numbers are being massaged and manipulated, and that the real numbers could be much higher, and not had [as many sources imply] a decline from around 2003-2023. I suspect it could very likely be higher than 1996, now in 2026, rather than around half of what it was in 1996 [as many sources imply].
I wonder how many on house arrest, in bureaucratic states of transition that do not get counted as incarceration (even for extended periors), kept for questioning for terrorism, crammed into slavery prisons with quotas to fulfil, in local jails, in ICE holding, in private prisons that do not call themselves part of the US prison system, in unrecorded illegal incarceration, immigration processing, etc etc etc that are not being counted.
Not to mention the sanctuary districts! [Like Star Trek Deep Space Nine warned us about, on our television sets around the world in 1996, 57th & 58th episodes (11th & 12th episodes of season 3).]
And the broader “open prison” aspects of society… even just like the prison slop in place of food.
Depending on how one cuts the pie… could arguably go right up to around 300 million.
Or, perhaps more contrived an over-reach of interpretation… around 8 billion.
What are USA numbers now? That’s the only way this is in context.
When looking that up, I came across this tidbit of extra irony at the start of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate :
Rummaging around through other sources gives me the idea the numbers are being massaged and manipulated, and that the real numbers could be much higher, and not had [as many sources imply] a decline from around 2003-2023. I suspect it could very likely be higher than 1996, now in 2026, rather than around half of what it was in 1996 [as many sources imply].
I wonder how many on house arrest, in bureaucratic states of transition that do not get counted as incarceration (even for extended periors), kept for questioning for terrorism, crammed into slavery prisons with quotas to fulfil, in local jails, in ICE holding, in private prisons that do not call themselves part of the US prison system, in unrecorded illegal incarceration, immigration processing, etc etc etc that are not being counted.
Not to mention the sanctuary districts! [Like Star Trek Deep Space Nine warned us about, on our television sets around the world in 1996, 57th & 58th episodes (11th & 12th episodes of season 3).]
And the broader “open prison” aspects of society… even just like the prison slop in place of food.
Depending on how one cuts the pie… could arguably go right up to around 300 million.
Or, perhaps more contrived an over-reach of interpretation… around 8 billion.