Over the last few weeks, the Rodney Reed case has ignited a firestorm of interest, as celebrities, activists, and politicians worked to delay his Nov. 20 execution on the basis that he might be innocent. After facing mounting pressure, a Texas appeals court granted Reed a stay of execution, allowing him to fight allegations that he committed murder more than two decades ago. If he succeeds, Reed would be another of the thousands of black men the United States has paid hundreds of millions to incarcerate. According to the National Registry of Exonerations (NRE), since 1989, 2,515 men and women have been exonerated after proving their innocence.
In total, among all known exonerees, Americans have shelled out a staggering $4.12 billion to incarcerate innocent men and women since 1989, according to a Yahoo Finance analysis. That’s largely money spent on trials, and the cost of housing inmates in prison. According to the Bureau of Prisons, in the fiscal year 2017, the average cost to house a prisoner was over $36,000 a year in federal facilities.
But black men make up the majority of those wrongfully convicted — approximately 49%. And since 1989, taxpayers have wasted $944 million to incarcerate black men and women that were later found to be innocent. That number climbs to $1.2 billion when including Hispanic men and women.
http://www.bleausa.org/us-taxpayers...Z8pgFxZx7VodPY3zP1yMDF_8YB4QJKegaA47-ZP8gk-Ec
Locking Up Black People is Big Business
Last week, I got to participate in American Injustice: A BET Town Hall. It’s a series of live conversations with leaders from Cory Booker to Kamala Harris about how we got into this crisis of mass incarceration. It’ll air this Sunday. If there’s one thing I want people to take away from it, it’s that locking up […]
WHICH ONE OF THESE CANDIDATES ARE TALKING ABOUT MASS INCARCERATION?
In total, among all known exonerees, Americans have shelled out a staggering $4.12 billion to incarcerate innocent men and women since 1989, according to a Yahoo Finance analysis. That’s largely money spent on trials, and the cost of housing inmates in prison. According to the Bureau of Prisons, in the fiscal year 2017, the average cost to house a prisoner was over $36,000 a year in federal facilities.
But black men make up the majority of those wrongfully convicted — approximately 49%. And since 1989, taxpayers have wasted $944 million to incarcerate black men and women that were later found to be innocent. That number climbs to $1.2 billion when including Hispanic men and women.
http://www.bleausa.org/us-taxpayers...Z8pgFxZx7VodPY3zP1yMDF_8YB4QJKegaA47-ZP8gk-Ec
Locking Up Black People is Big Business
Last week, I got to participate in American Injustice: A BET Town Hall. It’s a series of live conversations with leaders from Cory Booker to Kamala Harris about how we got into this crisis of mass incarceration. It’ll air this Sunday. If there’s one thing I want people to take away from it, it’s that locking up […]
WHICH ONE OF THESE CANDIDATES ARE TALKING ABOUT MASS INCARCERATION?