Over the past fifty years, the prison population in America has increased tremendously. Between 1985 and 2013 alone the prison population has increased 45.2 billion people. Over the last forty years, there has been a 500% increase in the population. The increase in prison population has caused problems with overcrowding in the jails. The number of people in prison and jails for drug-related offenses between 1980 and 2014 has increased by 447,500 individuals. Since they have such harsh laws regarding drugs it keeps people who have been convicted of drug-related offenses in prison for long periods of time. In 1986 people who had been convicted of a federal drug-related offense spent an average of twenty-two months in prison. By the year 2004
