{"id":46575,"date":"2022-02-15T18:16:30","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T23:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/mass-incarceration"},"modified":"2025-06-17T17:20:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T21:20:33","slug":"mass-incarceration","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/smart-justice\/mass-incarceration","title":{"rendered":"Mass Incarceration"},"parent":46735,"menu_order":-1,"template":"","class_list":["post-46575","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":210927,"intro":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","what-you-need-to-know":[{"highlighted":"$80 billion ","description":"The United States spends over $80 billion on incarceration each year."},{"highlighted":"10","description":"Blacks are incarcerated for drug offenses at a rate 10 times greater than that of whites, despite the fact that blacks and whites use drugs at roughly the same rates."},{"highlighted":"$20,000-$50,000","description":"Local, state, and federal governments spend anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 annually to keep an individual behind bars."}],"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":null},"featured-stories":null,"latest-stories":null,"whats-at-stake":{"title":"What's at Stake","description":"Despite making up close to 5% of the global population, the U.S. has more than 20% of the world\u2019s prison population. Since 1970, our incarcerated population has increased by 500% \u00ad\u00ad\u2013 2 million people in jail and prison today, far outpacing population growth and crime.\r\n\r\nOne out of every three Black boys born today can expect to go to prison in his lifetime, as can one of every six Latino boys\u2014compared to one of every 17 white boys. At the same time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/reports\/pie2019women.html\">women are the fastest growing<\/a> incarcerated population in the United States.\r\n\r\nThere are twice as many people incarcerated in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/smart-justice\/we-cant-end-mass-incarceration-without-ending-money-bail\">local jails<\/a> awaiting trial and presumed innocent than in the entire federal prison system. And each year, 650,000 people nationwide return from prison to their communities. They face nearly 50,000 federal, state, and local legal restrictions that make it difficult to reintegrate back into society, including potentially the loss of voting rights It\u2019s why we call this system the New Jim Crow.\r\n\r\nOur prison system costs taxpayers at least $80 billion per year. This money should be spent building up, not further harming, communities. Investments, not incarceration, is how we improve safety."},"actions":"","drupal-id":62,"is_hidden_issue":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>American Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mass Incarceration | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/smart-justice\/mass-incarceration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T21:20:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/smart-justice\/mass-incarceration\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/smart-justice\/mass-incarceration\",\"name\":\"Mass Incarceration | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-15T23:16:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T21:20:33+00:00\",\"description\":\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/smart-justice\/mass-incarceration\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"American Civil Liberties Union","description":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mass Incarceration | American Civil Liberties Union","og_description":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/smart-justice\/mass-incarceration","og_site_name":"American Civil Liberties Union","article_modified_time":"2025-06-17T21:20:33+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@aclu","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/smart-justice\/mass-incarceration","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/smart-justice\/mass-incarceration","name":"Mass Incarceration | American Civil Liberties Union","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-02-15T23:16:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-17T21:20:33+00:00","description":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/smart-justice\/mass-incarceration"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/","name":"American Civil Liberties Union","description":"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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