Over 3,200 US prisoners serving life sentences for non-violent offenses including shoplifting – report

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Reuters / Robert Galbraith, 11/15/13

Over 3,200 people in the United States are serving life sentences without parole for non-violent and often petty offenses – and taxpayers are paying billions to keep them locked up, according to a new report.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) report, titled ‘A Living Death,’ relays the stories of thousands of people impacted by the United States’ “late-twentieth-century obsession with mass incarceration and extreme, inhumane penalties” which leaves them likely to die behind bars even though they are far from being serious or violent offenders.

http://rt.com/usa/life-prison-without-parole-694/