While the Country a whole has jailed over a million and half people, Maine’s rate is the lowest.
Maine had the nation’s lowest incarceration rate in 2005, the latest year for which data is available, according to a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The report found that the country’s prison population nearly tripled over the last two decades – rising from around 585,000 in 1987 to nearly 1.6 million in 2007.
It also found that for the first time, more than one out of every 100 American adults is behind bars.
The Pew report shows that despite recent concerns in Maine about prison overcrowding, the state has relatively few inmates when compared with other states. Maine also spends a comparatively small percentage of its tax revenue on jails and prisons.