The US Prison population has quadrupled since 1980 and now stands as the highest reported per capita incarceration rate in the world. the Department of Justice reports the following statistics for federal, state and local prisons and jails. California spends about $35,000 per year per prisoner, other states are lower with the national average around $25,000 per year.

[Let's see 2,000,000 prisoners times $25,000 per year = $50 billion / year for jails!]

Year	per 100k	Incarcerated	Probation	Jail	Prison	Parole	Total
1980	139	503,586	1,118,097	183,988	319,598	220,438	1,842,100
1981	154	556,814	1,225,934	196,785	360,029	225,539	2,008,300
1982	171	612,496	1,357,264	209,582	402,914	224,604	2,194,400
1983	179	647,449	1,582,947	223,551	423,898	246,440	2,476,800
1984	188	682,764	1,740,948	234,500	448,264	266,992	2,690,700
1985	202	744,208	1,968,712	256,615	487,593	300,203	3,013,100
1986	217	800,880	2,114,621	274,444	526,436	325,638	3,241,100
1987	231	858,687	2,247,158	295,873	562,814	355,505	3,461,400
1988	247	951,335	2,356,483	343,569	607,766	407,977	3,715,800
1989	276	1,078,920	2,522,125	395,553	683,367	456,803	4,057,800
1990	297	1,148,702	2,670,234	405,320	743,382	531,407	4,350,300
1991	313	1,219,014	2,728,472	426,479	792,535	590,442	4,537,900
1992	332	1,295,150	2,811,611	444,584	850,566	658,601	4,765,400
1993	359	1,369,185	2,903,061	459,804	909,381	676,100	4,948,300
1994	389	1,476,621	2,981,022	486,474	990,147	690,371	5,148,000
1995	411	1,585,586	3,077,861	507,044	1,078,542	679,421	5,342,900
1996	427	1,646,020	3,164,996	518,492	1,127,528	679,733	5,490,700
1997	444	1,743,643	3,296,513	567,079	1,176,564	694,787	5,734,900
1998	461	1,816,931	3,670,441	592,462	1,224,469	696,385	6,134,200
1999	476	1,893,115	3,779,922	605,943	1,287,172	714,457	6,340,800
2000	478	1,937,482	3,826,209	621,149	1,316,333	723,898	6,445,100
2001	470	1,961,247	3,931,731	631,240	1,330,007	732,333	6,581,700
2002	476	2,033,022	4,024,067	665,475	1,367,547	750,934	6,758,800
2003	482	2,084,097	4,144,782	691,301	1,392,796	745,125	6,936,600
2004	486	2,135,901	4,151,125	713,990	1,421,911	765,355	6,996,500

Drug related incarceration is 14 times what it was in 1980 with most of the prisoners in jail for possession. The increase in violence in incredible because I don't remember the 80's as being all that calm. The biggest increase in drug incarceration came under Bush 41 in 1989.

	Violent	Property	Drug	Public order
1980	173,300	89,300	19,000	12,400
1981	193,300	100,500	21,700	14,600
1982	215,300	114,400	25,300	17,800
1983	214,600	127,100	26,600	24,400
1984	227,300	133,100	31,700	21,900
1985	246,200	140,100	38,900	23,000
1986	258,600	150,200	45,400	28,800
1987	271,300	155,500	57,900	31,300
1988	282,700	161,600	79,100	35,000
1989	293,900	172,700	120,100	39,500
1990	313,600	173,700	148,600	45,500
1991	339,500	180,700	155,200	49,500
1992	369,100	181,600	168,100	56,300
1993	393,500	189,600	177,000	64,000
1994	425,700	207,000	193,500	74,400
1995	459,600	226,600	212,800	86,500
1996	484,800	231,700	216,900	96,000
1997	507,800	236,400	222,100	106,200
1998	545,200	242,900	236,800	113,900
1999	570,000	245,000	251,200	120,600
2000	589,100	238,500	251,100	124,600
2001	596,100	233,000	246,100	129,900
2002	624,900	253,000	265,100	87,500