Just how bad is America's prison problem?

Since 1978 to 2009, the American prison population grew by a factor of 8. Now, the United States incarcerates over two million people -- roughly a quarter of the world’s prison population. We incarcerate 655 people 100,000 -- more per capita than China, Russia, and Iran combined. In fact, America imprisons more people and more people per capita than any other country on Earth -- by a significant margin.

In this episode, we'll be talking with Dr. Matthew Blanton, a history teacher at Milton Academy, and Oami Amarasingham, the legislative director at the ACLU Massachusetts, to better understand mass incarceration and how we can begin creating change.