Census: Black Men In U.S. Prisons Could Fill Prisons Of 8 Countires

Census Report Reveals Imprisoned Black Men In U.S. Could Fill Prisons Of 8 Countries

A recent report by the Census Bureau has shed even more light on the alarming problem of mass incarceration of black men in the United States.

via EURWeb

In a recent article, the widely-held belief surrounding the number of black men incarcerated outnumbering the number of black men enrolled in higher education was refuted. The piece is titled “The myth that there are more black men in prison than in college, debunked in one chart.” The author appears to believe through proving this assertion about prison and education ratios to be inaccurate either a point of great progress can be demonstrated, or an overstatement of calamity about the state of African American men can be corrected.

Yet the real issue is the number of people in prison should never be similar to the number educated. For most in our country this in fact holds true, but for black men the two numbers are in fact close and that is the inescapable problem. There may be more black men in college than in prison, but the truth still stands that there are a socially catastrophic number of black men behind bars in the United States.

“The Census estimates that approximately 18,508,926 people in the U.S. population are black males, of all ages…The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Prisoner Statistics Program reports that in that same year, 526,000 were in state or federal prisons, and, as of mid-year 2013, 219,660 were in local jails, making for a total of about 745,000 behind bars.”

This certainly puts things in perspective in the worst way. Wow.