[Corrections Explosion]
Edward Walsh, "Prison Population Still Rising, but more Slowly," The Washington Post, March 15, 1999, Sec. A, page 2.

Despite dropping crime rates, prison populations are growing. Bureau of Justice Statistics say that the overall prison population grew 4.4 percent from June 1997 to June 1998. Alfred Blumstein, a public policy professor at Carnegie-Mellon, points out that the federal reports do not consider drug-related crimes in violent crime statistics. A Justice Department statistician said that drug offenders make up 60 percent of the federal prison population. Other reasons given for the increase are longer terms due to mandatory sentencing and financial incentives to states who make inmates serve at least 85 percent of their time.

• How does one explain the continual increase in the prison population despite decreasing violent crime rates?
• What overall effect might this increase eventually have on our society?