Nevertheless, civil rights advocates said it is startling that blacks
and
Hispanics are more likely to live in prison cells than in college dorms.
"It's one of the great social and economic tragedies of our time,"
said
Marc Morial, president and CEO of the Urban League.
"It points to the signature failure in our education system and how
we've
been raising our children."
The Census Bureau released 2006 data Thursday on the social, racial and
economic characteristics of people living in adult correctional
facilities,
college housing and nursing homes. It is the first in-depth look at
people
living in "group quarters"
since the 1980 census. It shows, for example, that nursing homes had
much
older residents in 2006 than in 1980.
The new data has limitations. In addition to not including commuter
students, it does not provide racial breakdowns by gender or age, though
it
does show that males make up 90 percent of prison inmates.
Also, most prison inmates are 25 or older while 96 percent of people in
college housing are age 18 to 24.
The data show that big increases in black and Hispanic inmates occurred
since 1980. In 1980, the number of blacks living in college dorms was
roughly equal to the number in prison. Among Hispanics, those in college
dorms outnumbered those in prison in 1980.
There are a lot of reasons why black students do not reach college at
the
same rate as whites, said Amy Stuart Wells, a professor of sociology and
education at Columbia University's Teachers College.
Black students are more likely to attend segregated schools with high
concentrations of poverty, less qualified teachers, lower expectations
and a
less demanding curriculum, she said.
"And they are perceived by society as terrible schools, so it is hard
to
get accepted into college," Wells said. "Even if you are a
high-achieving
kid who beats the odds, you are less likely to have access to the kinds
of
courses that colleges are looking for."
Students who don't graduate high school are much more likely to go to
prison, said Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at
UCLA.
Nearly 40 percent of inmates lack a high school diploma or the
equivalent,
according to the census data.
"The criminal economy is one of the only alternatives in some of these
places," Orfield said. "You basically have the criminalization of a
whole
community, particularly in some inner cities."
Blacks made up 41 percent of the nation's 2 million prison and jail
inmates
in 2006. Non-Hispanic whites made up 37 percent and Hispanics made up 19
percent.
Morial, who is a former mayor of New Orleans, said the political debate
over
high incarceration rates for minorities hasn't yielded results. He said
conservatives blame a lack of family values while liberals blame a lack
of
government programs, with neither side seeing the whole picture.
"We do, in the African-American community, need to instill a stronger
value
on education," Morial said.
But, he added, minority students also need more early childhood
education,
longer school days, longer school years and more meaningful summer job
opportunities.
"We need to get serious about true investment on the front end,"
Morial
said.
Among the other findings in the census data:
_Men made up about 90 percent of prison and jail inmates in 2006, down
from
94 percent in 1980.
_About 9 percent of prison inmates were immigrants last year, up from
about
4 percent in 1980. Immigrants made up about 13 percent of the total
population in 2006.
_Non-Hispanic whites made up about 73 percent of the 2.3 million people
living in college housing in 2006. Blacks made up about 12 percent,
Asians
about 7 percent and Hispanics about 6 percent.
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