ABSTRACT
The United States has recently achieved the rather dubious honor of being the world leader in both the number of people incarcerated and the rate of incarceration in proportion to the total population. As of 2005, there are over 2.1 million people incarcerated, an incarceration rate of 491 per 100,000 people.1 Even more stunning, over the course of a year, between 12 and 14 million people will have some contact with the prison system.2
