Prison Population Keeps Growing

Missouri’s prison population is headed toward 30,000. The state has another 65,000 people in other forms of custody. State Corrections Director Gary Kempker says it seems to be a situation resulting from public sentiment. Kempker says it is part of the “get tough on crime” attitude that emerged in the 90s and resulted in longer prison sentences for a variety of offenses. He says Missouri gets about 46 new prison inmates every day and about 43 others go home. It works out to a gain of about 100 prisoners a month going into our state prison system.