Did you know?

that over 1 out of every 100 people is incarcerated at this very moment. Or, did you know that some states spend more money on correctional institutions than education? That is disgusting. Any guesses as to how much it "costs" to keep an inmate locked up for one year? Nearly...get ready for this...Nearly $30,000. And that is per person. Per year. Think about 20 year olds who get life without parole. Say they live 60 years. 60 years times 30 thousand is $1,800,000. I would absolutely love to know the salary that prison officials must be making because none of that money is spent on facilities, food, or basic needs of the inmate.

"The idea is to make a distinction between the people we're afraid of and the ones we're just ticked off at," said Rick Kern, director of the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission. "Not that you shouldn't punish them. But if it's going to cost $27,500 a year to keep them locked up, then maybe we should be smarter about how we do it."

Uh-I'm no rocket scientist, but don't you think somebody could have come up with that distinction just a little bit earlier?