Do you know anyone who is or has been in jail/prison?

Yes. Thankfully no one that we're close with. A guy from high school murdered a guy as an adult. One of my friends from elementary and high school was his girlfriend prior to the murder. He gave off an intense vibe.

My g-pa did some time for bootlegging back in the day. I couldn't be more proud. Can't blame a man for whiskey.
Jen

I recently heard that 95% of the words prisoners are in the US. Do we have that many more criminals than other countries? I don't think so. Running a prison is big business and full of corruptions just like any other government organization.
Jen

Yes, I have a family member on death row (deservedly so) for a crime he committed when he was 18.  Interestingly enough - and I did not know this before I selected my user name several years ago - the person he committed the crime with is named Standing Feather.

I've known a couple people but they aren't in my everyday life. My cousin has been in and out of prison his whole life. He's about 40 now. He's a drug addict and petty theft that can't get his life together.

Back in Roswell, one of my fellow UFO Museum guides was arrested for arson. However it was not intentional, the stove in his crummy apt. caught fire. Or his poor cooking skills started it. Roswell allows county prisoners 1 visitor per month. I saw him the first month, then his parents came to town and I was unable to see him again.

Recently a friend of mine here in Altoona, Alabama was arrested for assault, which may or my not have been correct. He was in jail for about a month and I didn't attempt to visit him. It didn't affect our friendship.

My father killed his mining partner but it was never a known fact outside of the family. As for other misbehaving relatives there probably were/are but I don't know of any.

Small town girl here, too. Worked at a place owned by a deputy sheriff and his wife that worked at the jail. I know many people that spent a night or more in jail. I also know several that have been or are in prison. One that I used to play with when we were small children is in prison for murdering his neighbor. His mother is still friends with my mother. 

Yep. 

I have a family member who is serving a prison term for repeat DUI offenses, not sure for how long but he's in actual prison, not jail, so it's pretty serious.  An ex boyfriend was on probation for drug possession (he got busted with a bag of weed in his car during a traffic stop) didn't pay the fine in a timely manner, and had to spend 3 months in county jail. And a few other friends and family members who got arrested for minor offenses but bailed out after a few hours to a few days and weren't ever sentenced to a jail or prison term, just fines and/or probation. 

And BTW, visiting somebody in county jail sucks. Many of the guards assume that if you are willing to visit somebody in jail, you're not a good person. I get that the procedures need to be strict and strictly enforced for safety and order. But I had guards say some pretty hateful shit to me when I would visit my ex, and if I tried to stand up for myself I knew they would deny visitation, so I had to shut up and take it. 

Yes, two awful people. One was the youth minister at church who molested dozens of children. He's in prison for life. The other is my friend's husband who murdered her after she left him.

Well, my cousin was in jail for 2 days for unpaid tickets. That's about it.

I had a friend from HS and college that I had stopped having contact with go to jail for drunk driving hit and run. He killed an elderly man. I saw his picture on the news, made me so mad and sad.
My mom goes to prison once a week to teacher prisoners to quilt, but I don't suppose that counts!

[/quote]I grew up in a small town. My dad was a cop. My best friends father was the judge. (Yes *the* judge, just had one) I literally know probably a hundred people or more, personally, that have been to jail. It's so much a part of my "normal" that I never realized it would be strange to people. [/quote]

This is our life now. You can't imagine how many people will try to pull the friend card. We know many judges and love it when someone goes in front of them and say I know Jess & Dan. To which the judge says I do to & moves on.
Growing up I grew up in a small town probaly only 200 people. Our neighboring town had close to 1000. So we knew many people who went to jail & still keep up with several judges from our hometown and always hear about someone we grew up going to jail.