Pubdate: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (MN) Copyright: 1999 St. Paul Pioneer Press Contact: 345 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55101 Website: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/ Forum: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/watercooler/ Author: D.J. Tice, Editorial Writer Note: Write Tice at: or at the Pioneer Press 345 Cedar St. St. Paul, Minn. 55101 Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1104/a08.html Also: For more facts see: http://www.csdp.org/factbook/prison.htm MORE DRUG, JAIL FACTS A few weeks back, I wrote a column offering some statistics on drug offenders in Minnesota prisons. Several readers responded with useful questions, to which I've found possible answers. I noted that those who favor drug decriminalization often seem to leave the impression that prisons are today filled with small-time drug offenders. I suggested that whatever one thinks of the merits of drug legalization, facts on this issue might come in handy. According to the Minnesota Corrections Department, some 15 percent of state prison inmates are in for drug crimes, and less than half of those for ``possession'' crimes. Other states, I noted, incarcerate higher percentages of drug offenders, while federal prisons have much higher rates. But federal prisons house a small proportion of the nation's inmates. And everywhere, possession crimes account for a small percentage of drug inmates. Several readers who seemed to think I was leaving a misleading impression theorized that it is really in local jails, not state prisons, that drug users predominate. Another reader wondered how many inmates commit their crimes to get money for drugs -- and are in that sense victims of harsh drug laws that make drugs expensive. A U.S. Department of Justice study of jail inmates nationwide (in 1996) addresses these issues. It reports that 22 percent of jail inmates are drug offenders, about half of whom are there for possession crimes. It also indicates that 15.8 percent of jail inmates say they committed their crime to get money for drugs. I don't know whether these jail statistics support the impression my questioners were looking for. Percentages aside, lots of people are behind bars for drug crimes in America, and those who favor more treatment and less incarceration for drugs have a case to make. Hopefully, facts will illuminate the needed debate. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake