There was a lot of national stress here in the UK this past week when it was announced that the country has used up all 86 thousand prison beds.  MPs asked the judiciary not to send so many offenders to prison, but to look to alternative sentences instead.

Meanwhile, over in the US the headline today is that with a prison population of 1.6 million souls and another 700+ thousand in local jails, 1 of every 100 adults in the population of 230 million is now incarcerated.

Given that the adult population of the UK currently stands at about 50 million (according to CIA estimates) that means their percentage is 0.17% of the adult population incarcerated, or one in 581.

What a frightening set of statistics!