Approximately One in 250 Missouri Residents Is Incarcerated.

County Jail on Oct 22, 2009. Chief Justice Ray Price cited in his State of the Judiciary address that non-violent offenders are the main demographic for Missouri prisons' population problem.

In his State of the Judiciary address, State Chief Justice Ray Price called for a reformation of the Missouri prison system, saying prisons are overpopulated with nonviolent offenders.

"We continue to over-incarcerate nonviolent offenders, while we have failed to expand drug courts and other diversionary and re-entry programs to capacity," Price said in his address. "The result is a state that is not as safe as we want it to be and a waste of taxpayer dollars."

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