USA Land Of The Free?: A Nation of Inmates? 5% of the World's Population Yet 25% of its Prison Population

There are more prisoners in the US than any other nation in the world!
The country makes up five percent of the world’s population, but accounts for 25 percent of its prison population. And over the last three decades the number held in US federal prisons has jumped by nearly 80 percent.
The number of inmates in US federal prisons has increased from about 25,000 in 1980 to 219,000 in 2012, according to a report by the US Congressional Research Service.