BBC News
The jail population in the United States is expected to reach 2 million on Tuesday, prompting a wave of protests across America.
An explosion in inmate numbers in recent years means that although the US makes up 5% of the total global population, it now accounts for 25% of the world's prisoners.
About 1.3 million of the current jail population have been imprisoned for non-violent crimes, usually drug offences.
Studies have shown that in cities such as Baltimore and Washington at least half of all young black men are either in prison, on parole or on probation.
Jenny Gainsborough, of the research organisation, Sentencing Project, said she hoped Tuesday's protests would highlight the need for reform to stop the upward spiral in the prison population.
"We just want people to be aware of the huge numbers of people who are being locked up and the contrast between the US and other western industrialised democracies.
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