Land of the free?

As Americans, we tend to think of ourselves as living in a free country. The phrase "land of the free" is still in our national anthem. And I still believe we can certainly do things that people in many countries can't do.

However, there is one persistent fact that calls our free status into serious question: a VERY large number of Americans are in prison. By "a VERY large number," I mean more in either raw numbers or per capita than ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! Any other--that includes brutal tyrannies like Burma, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, or Cuba. (And, before you say "well, the tyrannies execute you instead of imprisoning you, the story linked to above mentions that we rank sixth worldwide in the number of executions--so that's not the explanation.) If the prison population were in a single city, it would be the fourth largest city in the nation.

Still feel free?