&gt; <i>You make this sound like a common occurrence.</i><p>No, that anecdote <i>plus the fact</i> that the USA has a disproportionate number of people in jails compared to other developed countries makes it sound like a common occurrence.<p>See this recent HN submission: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10091586" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10091586</a><p>From the submission&#x27;s referenced paper:<p><i>The incarceration boom is unprecedented
in American history, and unseen anywhere else in the world; traditionally
indistinguishable from its peers, the United States is now the world’s largest
jailer, both in absolute numbers and in rate. Home to only five percent of the
world’s population, it now houses over twenty percent of its prisoners.</i>