Greater than China?
HOELTER: Yes, greater than China, greater than the former Soviet Union, greater than South Africa. CCR: Why doesn’t prison work for non-violent offenders? HOELTER: The average non-violent offender has either a drug or alcohol problem. We know for example in state prisons that 65 percent of the people have drug or alcohol problems. The majority of them have committed a property crime. The majority of them have no educational background and/or poor economic backgrounds. Nothing that happens in prison helps any of those problems. Prisons over the past ten years have either financially or ideologically given up on the concept of rehabilitation and gone to pure custodial care. So, when a person leaves prison after taxpayers have spent a significant amount of money on them, they are less equipped to handle the problems of the world than when they went in. If they happen to go straight, it is usually good luck, or they have had somebody in the community help them get through the rest of their
