According to the US Bureau of Justice, as of 2008, 40.2% the entirety of the prison population is comprised of African American inmates which counts 846,000 in exact figures.
Michelle Alexander, a professor from Ohio State Law shared that African American inmates have outnumbered the black slaves during the 1850s. She even mentioned how it is seemingly unfair how although it is known that the usage and trafficking of illegal drugs between black and white people are equal, more African American inmates are still imprisoned if compared to all races combined.
It may be now the 2011 but it is still inevitable how these figures seem to imply something that has been existing way beyond the 1850s.
Read the rest of the report here.