America leads the world in incarceration. Probably because politicians allowed the prisons to be handed over to the private sector. With profit motive in hand they wrote the 3 strikes your out policy which politicians rubber stamped like stooges and the prison population exploded. There is a great documentary on Netflix called "13th" that walks through the history of it.
Are humans defined by their crime for the rest of their lives? Are you defined by your sin(s) for the rest of your life? When I was 12 I would throw snowballs at cars as they drove past. Stupid. Luckily, I didn't cause any harm. But I certainly could have. Does that define me for the rest of my life? If I caused an accident which cost someone's life, would that define me for the rest of my life?
I saw a powerful play called "Lockdown". Here is the interview of the playwrite and the director.
Yeah, I mean, with crime rates dropping, why do we need to have all these people in jail??
And here's another hypothetical. If I run my car through a playground full of children, then jump out and start shooting everything that moves, should that define me for the rest of my life? For how long should I lose my freedom and when can I start voting again?
Is this really so different from throwing snowballs at cars?
Until we can read the minds of people accused of crimes, mistakes will be made. The moral dilemma is whether you believe 99 guilty go to prison and is joined by an innocent 1, or whether you believe 99 innocent people go free and is joined by 1 guilty man.
As Richard Nixon once said, "Sometimes it's necessary for some of us to make sacrifices."
JOJ, I don't know about the states, but the Federal prisoners in private "care" is about 18,000 (11%).