Nearly two million Americans will spend this first year of the new millennium behind bars. It's a staggering number. The United States now locks up more of its citizens than any other democratic nation.

The prison population continues to rise even as crimes go down in many cities, in part because of tough new mandatory sentencing laws that keep more people in jail for longer periods of time. Fourteen million Americans, mostly black or Latino, will spend part of their lives behind bars.

"The Price of Punishment" examines the cost, financially and personally, of prison policies. WBUR's Jennifer Schmidt spent two months visiting prisons throughout New England, talking to prisoners, former prisoners, corrections officials, prison doctors and a prison architect.

You'll meet them all in "The Price of Punishment."