This week, NBC News will present an eye-opening and unprecedented look at the criminal justice center.
One of the things you will hear about is the First Step Act. This allows some qualifying federal prisoners to be released early.
On any given day, up to 2.3 million Americans are incarcerated. One in 37 adults in this country -- is under some sort of correctional supervision.
The U.S. has only five percent of the world's population, yet locks up 25% of the world's prisoners.
Our incarceration rates dwarf those of other NATO nations. For instance, an American is 10 times more likely to be locked up than someone in Denmark.
New York State has the 8th lowest rate of incarceration in the United States, 480 adults per 100,000. That works out to a little more than 74-thousand (74,400) New Yorkers, age 18 and older, who are in jail or prison.
The number of women behind bars -- has skyrocketed in recent years. Almost eight in 10 women in jail are mothers. Five percent of them are pregnant.
The Prison Policy Initiative says 60% of imprisoned mothers are serving time for the lowest level of felonies. 94% of them were convicted of non-violent crimes.
More than five million children in the U.S. have a parent who is incarcerated. That's one in 14 kids. Among poor children, one in eight has a parent locked up. And a black child has a one in nine chance of having mom or dad behind bars.
There is one especially encouraging statistic, as a country, we're arresting far fewer juveniles. 800,000 in 2017, which is a 59% drop compared to 2008.
WATCH BELOW: 2 On Your Side's Pete Gallivan introduces us to a local man who is one of the people released early under the First Step Act.
