[Vision2020] Idaho prison population percentages (was: Close to 27 Dead)

[Kenneth Marcy]

On 12/14/2012 5:43 PM, Darrell Keim wrote:
>  <[snip]>
> Did you know the Idaho state prison population is 6400?  In 1974 it 
> was 614.  I don't claim that mental health issues account for this 
> 96%(!!!!!!!) increase.  But, I'd bet my eye teeth that it DOES 
> represent a good chunk of it.
<[snip]>

Seven apostrophes incarcerated within parentheses following an incorrect 
percentage ... it might have been an exciting time.

614 divided by 6,400 yields the digits 0.0959, from which, in a state of 
excitement, one might get 96%. That's just a guess.

The percent increase from 614 to 6,400 is calculated by first 
subtracting 614 from 6,400, giving 5,786 as the numerical increase from 
the base of 614. To calculate the percent increase from 614, divide 
5,786 by 614 to yield the digits 9.423, which represents over a 942 
percent increase from the base.  One could also say that there are 9.423 
times as many inmates incarcerated in 2012 as in 1974.

As a comparative reference point, using the U.S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator, one can find that 
614 in 1974 dollars is worth 2,867 in 2012 dollars.  That represents a 
367 percent increase over the 1974 base.  One may go one division 
further to discover that the rate of Idaho prison population increase 
was 2.57 times the rate of consumer price inflation increase in the 
years 1974 to 2012.

I do not have ready at hand more detailed data about annual prison 
population increases and when Idaho made the transition from state 
control of the prison system to private corporate operation of the 
prisons, but statistics about the rate of prison population increase 
after privatization compared to before privatization might be interesting.


Ken