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Fascism is an American tradition ๐Ÿ”ฅ (lemmy.ml)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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As of 2026, the U.S. justice system handles around 5.5 million people, with roughly 1.9 million behind bars, 2.9 million on probation, and over 800,000 on parole.

2026 Map:

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[โ€“] 4 points 4 months ago (1 child)

$11b worth of goods and services sounds like a lot, except that there are at least 1 million people locked up. Even if they don't have to pay the prisoners for their labour, the cost of keeping them locked up is much, much higher than the value of any labour they perform.

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  • [โ€“] 3 points 4 months ago*

    Yeah.. according to the stats in this post, about 1.9 million people are behind bars.

    11 billion a year between 1.9 million prisioners is about 6k per year per prisoner.

    So that's about $500 a month per prisoner. Which is not as big of a number.. and according to the article, the prisoners still get paid a fraction of it.. it's just that 80% is used "for room and board, court costs, restitution and other fees, including the construction and maintenance of prisons".

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