profiting off crime?

after watching and hearing the statistics about jail one has to wonder if the us government if incarcerating so many us citizens because there doing bad things or if its just good for the economy. after hearing that 1% of the populations is in jail and that that is much more then any other country in the world i was appalled. to think that the home of the free was such of a constraining society. and those people in jails are not murders rapists and thief's, but mostly of the people in jails are either drug related or psychologically insane. i feel that this is directly related to the amount of money that a large jail system brings. everyone seems to make more money the more people that are in jail. and because we all know money is what makes the world go 'round the system will continue making silly sentences on penny crimes. and until the average us citizen stands up for this injustice then nothing will change.