Figures below mainly from The Statesman's Yearbook, various dates - give the prison population of various countries over time. There is a siginificant tendency in most countries (excepting some smaller ones) to lock up a greater percentage of the population over time. Why? Are we getting more lawless, or is the State getting more scared of lawbreakers (or redefining - for some reason - what is a lawbreaker, especially one deserving of incarceration)? As this sample set of figures below shows, this is a trend across all sorts of countries, North and South, rich and poor, democratic or less democratic. If this trend continues I estimate that by 2250 we'll all either be prisoners or prison guards - solves the unemployment, housing, road congestion, problems I suppose.
Hillary Shaw, Harper Adams University College, Newport, Shropshire