Weird how the internet can tell me 1.6 million people died in gulags but there is no hazy estimate of how many folks have died in US prisons other than a report for 2001-2014 which hilariously misorders cause of death to downplay homicide and 'missing'.

  • CrimsonSage [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I remember looking up the actual soviet numbers once and the number of people incarcerated in the gulag was significantly less on a per capita basis than the USA. I didn't do fatalities, but I imagine they would be at worst only slightly higher per capita than the usa.

    • corgiwithalaptop [any, love/loves]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Theres that famous meme where its a picture of Stalin that says "yeah Stalin was so bad that 20% of the population was imprisoned. Oh wait no thats America right now actually."

      • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        It's 2% actively, but 20%+ that's effected (spends time in prison or jail in their lives or is a direct relation of someone who will)

      • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I think the statistic you might have seen is around 30% of Americans have a criminal record, i.e., been arrested and convicted of a crime.

        • corgiwithalaptop [any, love/loves]
          ·
          3 years ago

          This is the meme I was thinking of. I had the numbers close, but the overall idea incorrect:

          https://img.ifunny.co/images/31a86fb326255d3beee5132b1daa36ac295f151b041fe5bb3d0d7b6ef0a46691_1.jpg

    • KoeRhee [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      All told, the mortality rates of the gulags was slightly higher than the US prison system, but I'm pretty sure if you exclude the stats from 1941-1945 it's actually lower lmao.

      • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I wonder what the mortality rate in American concentration camps is, they're really secretive about those

        • emizeko [they/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          "gosh sorry, our contractor doesn't report those numbers!"

          • ProfessorAdonisCnut [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Operational parameters are classified as commerical-in-confidence and disclosure would unfairly disadvantage contractors against competing bids