Prison Nation

Next Airing Next Airing Next Airing Next Airing Next Airing Next Airing Sat Sep 26 10A Sat Sep 26 9A Sat Sep 26 8A Sat Sep 26 7A Sat Sep 26 6A Sat Sep 26 4A

OverviewOverviewVideoVideoPhotosPhotosPrison FactsPrison Facts

Image: Two prisoners in Salinas Valley Prison

Prison Nation

Step inside America's troubled prison system where more than 2.2 million convicts live in a world of increasing violence, extreme crowding, rampant drug use and gang warfare.

Prison Nation , Makeshift Dorm , An over-crowded prison creates a danger zone.

Prison Nation , Prison Nation , Overcrowded prisons are full of gang violence.

Image: Aerial view of the Security Housing Unit, Pelican Bay

Prison Nation,A prison within the prison, the Security Housing Unit (SHU) Pelican Bay houses California's worst of the worst.

Image: An armed officer oversees inmates

Prison Nation,An armed officer oversees inmates from the roof at Oak Park Heights Prison in Minnesota.

Prison Nation,An officer leads an inmate at Oak Park Heights Prison in Minnesota.

Prison Nation,Inmates are searched on their way in and out of cell blocks for recreation time at Salinas Valley State Prison in California.

Prison Nation,Officer Atchley oversees C Yard with the gunner tower behind him at Salinas Valley State Prison in California.

Prison Nation,Correctional officers observe morning chow at Valley State Prison for Women in California.

Handcuffs representing National Geographic Channel show Prison Nation

LOCKED UP

Hidden within our country is a dark, parallel world — a Prison Nation that is inhabited by 2.2 million American convicts. Increasing violence, extreme crowding, rampant drug use and gang warfare are part of daily life. Find out the facts behind our Prison Nation.

With 2.2 million inmates, America has more prisoners behind bars than any other country on earth. We now have 25 percent of the world's incarcerated, with just five percent of the population.
America?s population behind bars has gone up 1,000 percent in the last three decades. Get-tough-on-crime legislation and minimum sentencing laws are blamed for the explosion of inmates. Of all prisoners, 95 percent will be released. Half of them are currently serving a term of two years or less.
According to correctional officers, drugs find their way inside even the most secure facilities, but the more secure a facility, the higher the price. Drugs regularly go for up to twenty times their street value behind bars.
Among prisoners, 35 percent are drug addicts; 80 percent are drug users. One study found that 34 percent of drug users return to state prison within a year.
Since many correction departments have outlawed tobacco in prisons, the going rate for cigarettes in some prisons has skyrocketed from pocket change to $5 per cigarette. A thimbleful of tobacco goes for as much as $50.
There are as many as 5,000 prisons or jails in the U.S., employing at least 430,000 people as staff or correctional officers.
In 2001, the average cost per inmate in state prisons is $22,650 per year or $62.05 a day. The taxpayer price tag is twice as much as just 15 years ago.
The number of female inmates is increasing almost twice as fast as the men?s incarceration rate, tripling in the last decade. At least 40 percent of jailed women have minor children.
Inmates in America?s prisons and jails aren?t evenly divided by race; African Americans make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population but 41 percent of the overall prison population. And Hispanics have 2.5 times the rate of imprisonment of non-Hispanic whites.
More than half of male inmates and roughly two-thirds of female inmates have symptoms of a serious mental illness.
The largest population of the mentally ill in America isn?t housed in a hospital? It?s in Los Angeles County Jail, followed by New York?s Rikers Island. In all, one-fourth of all state prison beds are occupied by the mentally ill.
"Solitary confinement" has a new name in prison systems: segregation. Single-celled, 23-hour lock-up units in some of these prisons are designed to limit inmates? movement and contact with other staff or inmates. Officers can care for inmates electronically — from opening an inmate?s door, to shutting off his water, to turning off his lights.
More than 80,000 inmates are kept in isolation nationwide. The average stay in some states is now years.

Remind Me

Enter your email address so NGC can remind you when next this show airs.

Choose Airdate

And/Or

Mobile Number

Carrier

Remind Me I have read and agree to the Terms of Service

Terms & Conditions Please note that show times occasionally change. Always consult NGC's online TV schedule for the latest information. If you sign up to receive a mobile reminder, you are authorizing NGC program reminders to be sent to your mobile phone. You will only receive reminders for shows that you request. This is a free NGC service, but standard text messaging rates apply. NGC mobile program reminders are offered by the following carriers: Alltel, AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless, Nextel, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile®, Verizon Wireless. You can end this service anytime by texting STOP to 64288. If you have trouble using this feature, please email site comments to website@natgeochannel.com.

NGC privacy policy