Ben Shoemate's Notebook

World's Largest Jailer By Far, It's Not Even Close

Q: Which repressive country puts the most people in jail for violating government laws? 

A. Iran

B. Saudi Arabia

C. Libya

D. Egypt

E. United States of America

It's not even close..............

World Rank, 2010	Country	Prisoners per 100,000 Population
1	U.S.A.	743
37	Tunisia	297
52	Turkmenistan	224
53	Iran	223
61	Libya	200
61	Mexico	200
69	Colombia	180
70	Saudi Arabia	178
92	Bahrain	149
116	China	120
126	Venezuela	114
137	Iraq	101
140	Ethiopia	98
150	Egypt	89
156	Yemen	83
185	Syria	58
187	Afghanistan	56
198	Sudan	45
198	Pakistan	45

The table above shows how the prison incarceration rate for in the United States (per 100,000 population) in 2010 compares to some of the roughest countries in the world.  The full list of 216 countries is here, the countries above were selected as some of world's the most repressive regimes (Iran, Saudi Arabia and Libya), some of the world's least economically free countries (Venezuela, Turkmenistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, according to the Heritage Foundation) and some countries with the biggest narco-terroism problems (Colombia and Mexico).  But none of them even come close to the incarceration rate of the World's #1 Jailer - the United States, largely because of the "war on drugs" (see chart below).  
 

Update: Note that neighbor Canada ranks #124 (117 per 100,000), and countries with liberalized drug laws like Portugal rank #128 (112 per 100,000) and Netherlands ranks #145 (94 per 100,000).