"The world’s prison population is estimated at around 11 million with rates of incarceration ranging from 698 per 100,000 population in the United States to as low as 16 per 100,000 in the Central African Republic. In the US, there are approximately 2.2 million people incarcerated, representing an estimated 24% of the world’s proportion of incarcerated individuals. Estimates as of mid-May 2020 in the US demonstrate that state jails hold 1,230,000 individuals, 625,000 are detained in local jails, and 225,000 in federal jails and prisons. Mass incarceration policies have important collateral damage to prisoners, their families and communities. Investing in social capital, community-building practices, public safety strategies, and violence prevention initiatives represent a more cost-effective approach. In communities with steady economic and social breakdown, many groups including African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and white working class without a bachelor’s degree are caught in this web of compound and expanding disadvantage. Worldwide, in most settings, poor urban communities experience the highest rates of both incarceration and recidivism."