Washington State Incarceration Rate Higher Than All But Three Countries In World

If you haven't noticed, the "Land of the Free" has long since ceased to exist.

A recent article in Reason magazine, cited a chart that was compiled by the Prison Policy Initiative that clearly shows the United States of America far and away leading the rest of the world in rates of incarceration with 716 citizens per 100,000 locked up.  No. 2 is Cuba (510 per 100,000) followed by Rwanda (492).

What is more disconcerting is that 37 U.S. states have higher rates than ANY other nation on the planet, with Louisiana leading the way with a rate of 1,341 per 100,000.
Our state of Washington falls below the U.S. average and is just slightly less than the No. 3 country of Rwanda, incarcerating 475 people per 100,000 persons.

The "freest" state in the Union? Vermont (254/100k). Country? The tiny African island nation of Comoros at just 16 per 100,000.

Home of the brave and land of the imprisoned is starting to sound more accurate.