How Badly is This System Broken?

The father of the quality movement, W. Edwards Deming, said that the key to
an organization’s success is to work co-operatively to fix its system; this is
done by removing waste. How much waste is there in the following system?

Please take this ten question quiz and find out:

1) If the state of California was an independent country, it would be the eighth largest
economy in the world. What part of California’s budget deals with prisons?
a. one percent
b. three percent
c. five percent
d. seven and a half percent
e. ten percent

2) Out of every 100,000 people in the US (including children) how many Americans are in
prison?
a. 351
b. 451
c. 551
d. 651
e. 751

3) China is considered by many to have a large prison population. The United States is
actually larger. How much larger is the U.S. prison population per 100,000.
a. 31%
b. 231%
c. 431%
d. 631%
e. 831%

4) In 2007, how much did the American Taxpayer pay on corrections?

a. $14 billion
b. $24 billion
c. $34 billion
d. $44 billion
e. $54 billion

5) How much faster are public expenditures on corrections (tax dollars) growing compared
to public expenditures on higher education?
a. 305%
b. 405%
c. 505%
d. 605%
e. 705%
6) During your life-time, assuming you are an average American (and just by taking this
quiz you obviously are not), what are your odds of serving time in prison?
a. One in forty-five
b. One in thirty-five
c. One in twenty-five
d. One in fifteen
e. One in five

7) More than 600,000 prisoners are released each year. What percentage of those released
are back in prison in three years?
a. 37%
b. 47%
c. 57%
d. 67%
e. 77%

8) The average prison sentence for burglary in the United States is what percent longer than
in Canada?
a. 120%
b. 220%
c. 320%
d. 420%
e. 520%

9) What is the average cost to keep one prisoner incarcerated for one year in the U.S.?
a. $13,000
b. $23,000
c. $33,000
d. $43,000
e. $53,000

10) If one state (New York) has saved over a billion dollars using Positive Deviant Cherie
Clark’s proven system, Doing Life, are you willing to be part of the solution by reviewing
(no obligation beyond that) what The Positive Deviant Network is doing? Our intention
is to implement Doing Life in all fifty states?
a. Yes.
b. No.
 Answers to Waste Quiz
Question One:
e Ten percent of California’s budget deals with prisons.

Question Two:
e 751 out of every 100,000 Americans in the US are in prison.

Question Three:
d The United States has 751 people in prison per 100,000 and China has 119 per 100,000. Thus
the U.S. incarceration rate is 631% higher than China’s. Other country’s rate per 100,000
population:
1) Japan 63 per hundred thousand
2) Germany 88 per hundred thousand
3) England 151 per hundred thousand
4) Russia 627 per hundred thousand

Question Four:
d $44 billion annually

Question Five:
d Correction expenditures (tax dollars) are growing 605% faster than public expenditures on
higher education

Question Six:
d Assuming you are an average American your odds of serving time in prison is one in fifteen.

Question Seven:
d Two-thirds (67%) of those released are back in prison in three years. This means that we
release 600,000 each year and 400,000 are back in prison within three years.

Question Eight:
c The average prison sentence for burglary in the United States is sixteen months. In Canada it is
five months. The United States is 320% longer.

Question Nine:
d The average cost to keep one prisoner incarcerated for one year in the US is $43,000.

Question Ten:
a We hope you answered “yes” to this.
As Dr. Deming brilliantly pointed out, 94% of all failure is not because of the people it is
because the system is not working optimally. Unless we change the system we will continue to
get poor results. As Deming said, “Best efforts accomplish very little; you must change the
system.” Click below and see how hard people are working to improve the situation. When
reading this article keep in mind how hard these people are working with little success.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/nyregion/27excons.html?ex=1367035200&en=b8ebf577c0
69e3fb&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

What they haven’t done is change the system! Doing Life is a system change. When
implemented in all 50 states, Doing Life will save taxpayers billions of dollars. Equally
important it will positively transform countless lives.

A Higher Social and Moral Purpose

US Prisons

An almost universal trait of Positive Deviants is that they are driven by a higher social and moral
purpose. One of the two initiatives the Positive Deviant Network (PDN) is addressing is prison
reform. Positive Deviant Cherie Clark has a corrections system that works. It is only in one
state (New York) and her “Doing Life” program (called Shock Incarceration in New York) has
saved this one state $1.05 BILLION dollars. Shock has over 35,000 graduates. For every 100
Shock Releases the state of New York saves $3.01 million dollars that it would have otherwise
expended for the care and custody of these inmates. If you would be willing to hear more on
what the Positive Deviant Network is doing to fix the prison system. Click here:
support@posdev.net.