International prison examples

Question 1

Race inequality in USA prisons

Answer 1

In 2017, 33% of the prison population was black even though black people only make up 12% of the US population and the imprisonment rate for black Americans is almost 6 times higher than the rate for white Americans.

Question 2

Work in USA prisons

Answer 2

Prisoners earn as little as $.23 an hour and often work for a big companies such as Victoria’s Secret and McDonald’s

Question 3

Re-offending in USA

Answer 3

A US DoJ report showed that 83% of US prisoners were arrested within the nine years following their release and almost 45% of prisoners are arrested within one year of release.

Question 4

Re-offending in Sweden

Answer 4

Sweden have the lowest reoffending rate in the whole of Europe at 16%

Question 5

Short sentences in Sweden

Answer 5

80% of prisoners are sentenced to less than a year

Question 6

Re-offending in Netherlands

Answer 6

Less than 10% of repeat offenders return to prison

Question 7

Short sentences in Netherlands

Answer 7

The average length of imprisonment in the Netherlands is 3 1/2 months

Question 8

Young offenders in Netherlands

Answer 8

There has been a 66% drop in jail terms for young offenders

Question 9

Overcrowding in USA

Answer 9

25% of the world’s prisoners even though they only have 5% of the world’s total population