Do Not Pass Go

They’re rounding up people, arresting them, and throwing them into increasingly crowded jails at rates that are completely at odds with the rest of the country. You might be picturing the proverbial dark alley in a big city. But in this case, we’re talking about Dearborn County in Indiana. It turns out that rural America is putting away more prisoners per capita than big cities and populous suburbs (many of which are actually seeing a decline in the number of people incarcerated). What gives? All politics is local. And that includes prosecutions. A Dearborn prosecutor explains why so many small towners are ending up in the big house: “I am proud of the fact that we send more people to jail than other counties. That’s how we keep it safe here.” Very interesting stuff from Josh Keller and Adam Pearce in the NYT: The New Geography of Prisons.