Friday, September 28, 2007

More than three times as many black people live in prison cells as in college dorms, the government said in a report to be released today.

The ratio is only slightly better for Hispanics, at 2.7 inmates forevery Latino in college housing. Among non-Hispanic whites, more thantwice as many live in college housing as in prison or jail.

The numbers, driven by men, do not include college students who liveoff campus. Previously released census data show that black andHispanic college students - commuters and those in dorms - faroutnumber black and Hispanic prison inmates.

Nevertheless, civil rights advocates said it is startling that blacksand Hispanics are more likely to live in prison cells than in collegedorms.

"It's one of the great social and economic tragedies of our time," saidMarc Morial, president and CEO of the Urban League. "It points to thesignature failure in our education system and how we've been raisingour children."

The Census Bureau released 2006 data Thursday on the social, racial andeconomic characteristics of people living in adult correctionalfacilities, college housing and nursing homes. It is the first in-depthlook at people living in "group quarters" since the 1980 census. Itshows, for example, that nursing homes had much older residents in 2006than in 1980.

The new data have limitations. In addition to not including commuterstudents, the data do not provide racial breakdowns by gender or age,though they do show that males make up 90 percent of prison inmates.

Also, most prison inmates are 25 or older while 96 percent of people incollege housing are age 18 to 24.

The data show that big increases in black and Hispanic inmates occurredsince 1980. In 1980, the number of blacks living in college dorms wasroughly equal to the number in prison. Among Hispanics, those incollege dorms outnumbered those in prison in 1980.

There are many reasons black students do not reach college at the samerate as whites, said Amy Stuart Wells, a professor of sociology andeducation at Columbia University's Teachers College.

Black students are more likely to attend segregated schools with highconcentrations of poverty, less qualified teachers, lower expectationsand a less demanding curriculum, she said.

"And they are perceived by society as terrible schools, so it is hardto get accepted into college," Wells said. "Even if you are ahigh-achieving kid who beats the odds, you are less likely to haveaccess to the kinds of courses that colleges are looking for."

Students who don't graduate high school are much more likely to go toprison, said Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project atUCLA. Nearly 40 percent of inmates lack a high school diploma or theequivalent, according to the census data.

"The criminal economy is one of the only alternatives in some of theseplaces," Orfield said. "You basically have the criminalization of awhole community, particularly in some inner cities."

Blacks made up 41 percent of the nation's 2 million prison and jailinmates in 2006. Non-Hispanic whites made up 37 percent and Hispanicsmade up 19 percent.