Comparison of United States incarceration rate with other countries
The incarceration rate of the People's Republic of China varies depending on sources and measures. According to the World Prison Brief, the rate for only sentenced prisoners is 118 per 100,000 (as of 2015). The rate for prisoners including estimations for the number of pre-trial detainees and those in administrative detention is 164 per 100,000 (as of 2015). In a 2010 interview Harry Wu, a U.S.-based human rights activist and ex-Chinese labor camp prisoner, estimates that "in the last 60 years, more than 40–50 million people" were in Chinese labor camps, but that period includes the mass incarcerations of the 1950s or the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and is not representative of modern China.
Alternatives to imprisonment
Academic studies are inconclusive as to whether high imprisonment rates reduce crime rates in comparison to low imprisonment rates. While they at least remove offenders from the community. there is little evidence that prisons can rehabilitate offenders or deter crime. Some inmates are at risk of being drawn further into crime. They may make friends with other criminals, have their medical or mental health needs neglected or endure further abuse from other prisoners and even staff. If they are supporting a family, they will suffer from the parent's absence. Released prisoners commonly have difficulty finding work and earning a legal income. As a result, most countries have high recividism rates. In the United States, 67.8% of released prisoners are rearrested within three years and 76.6% are rearrested within five years.