Telling factoids - any chance you can reference their sources?
Are the numbers based on all prisons & jails (federal, state, county, city/local, and "private" contract) &
all spending on higher education (federal, state, public & private)? Or just the public/governmental spending?
Also, are the spending figures adjusted for inflation?
If they are not, then spending for higher education has actually dropped
(rate of inflation over past 20 years has been greater than 1% per year).

Great questions, Alice. Even when the facts are skewed and manipulated, all we need to do is use our eyes and our minds to evaluate results. If spending has increased, it's for war, subsidized oil companies, bail outs, etc. It's not for what's needed. Prison reform, health care and education as a civil right, rebuilding infrastructure. Rome is gonna fall again!! Human life is too short, I guess, to learn from history.