In the United States, where the Journal is published, more than a million people are living in prison or jail. The proportion of Americans serving sentences is the highest-known rate in the world, significantly higher, for instance, than European nations, South Africa, and the Soviet Union. Despite new prison construction costs of $100 million per week, American facilities are notoriously overcrowded.
Most prisoners—both in the U.S. and in the many other countries where Journal readers live —will be released at some point, many within the next few months and years.
Do we think of the men and women in the local prison as our brothers and sisters?
