with 2.2 million people currently in the nation's prisons and jails — a 500%  increase over the last forty years. Changes in sentencing law and policy, not  changes.
Jul 10, 2016 ... The war on drugs led to "a 500 percent increase in incarceration in ... We found  that the number of people incarcerated for drug-related offenses has increased  dramatically in the past 40 years, as has the overall incarcerated population. ...  The state and federal prison population grew from 218,466 in 1974 ...
Apr 27, 2015 ... Over the last 40 years, the country's prison population has grown 500 percent.  We now house more than one-fifth of the world's incarcerated ...
In 1973, after 50 years of stability, the rate of incarceration in the United States ...  In absolute numbers, the prison and jail population had grown to 2.23 million ...  rates of incarceration in the United States with those in other countries. ..... 1980,  rising to 30 percent by 1991 and remaining between 30 and 40 percent until  2010.
... in the nation's prisons and jails—a 500% increase over the last 40 years. ...  The number of people sentenced to prison for property and violent crimes has  also increased even ... People in Prisons & Jails for Drug Offenses, 1980 & 2016  ...
Over the last 40 years, this country’s prison population has grown by 500 percent.