Add It Up: Georgia’s prisons surprisingly popular!
State leads the country for population living in corrections system. Yippee.
Number of Georgians currently incarcerated or on probation or parole: 562,763
Georgia’s national rank for percentage of population in the corrections system: 1
Chance that a Georgian is in the corrections system: 1:13
Chance that a New Hampshire resident is in the corrections system: 1:88
Average daily cost, in dollars, to house and provide for a Georgia inmate: 48
Amount, in dollars, Georgia pays each year on its corrections system: 1.1 billion
Amount, in dollars, a state lawmaker recently proposed charging inmates for daily “room and board”: 40
Total population of the 20-county metro Atlanta region: 5.2 million
Total population of U.S. corrections system: 7.3 million
Sources: Pew Center, Associated Press, Atlanta Regional Commission, Georgia General Assembly