banderl wrote:Much is made of the alleged fact that 30 percent of federal prison inmates are illegal immigrants. Actually, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the correct figure is 14 percent, and many are in just for violating immigration laws. In prisons at the state level, where most violent crime is prosecuted, illegal immigrants account for less than 5 percent of all inmates.
http://www.creators.com/opinion/steve-chapman/illegal-immigrants-not-so-scary.html
I'm not so sure that an article written by a Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist can be called factual. I'm not saying he's wrong either. I'd much prefer to see actual data.
Edit:
From the BOP's website:
As of July 25, 2015; the U.S. citizenship of the entire U.S Federal Prison population is 76.8%. So 23.2 % of the population is non-US citizens. No mention anywhere as to what % is here illegally.
http://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_citizenship.jsp
Edit 2:
Hispanics account for 34.1 % of that population
48.6% are serving drug related sentences
16.2 % are serving sentences for Weapons, Explosives, Arson
9.2% (17,991) are serving immigration related sentences
Asians make up 1.5% of the population
Blacks 37.6%
Native Americans 1.9%
Whites 59.0%