Steve's barking the US has the most incarcerated in the world and

I've heard it again, the United States has the more inmates then any other country percentage wide and total number.
Why is this? Are other countries too lenient? Is the US too hard? Is the US just plane raciest after all a huge majority are black, followed by a large population Hispanic inmates? Is the US jailing  people for the most minor of offences? Is the United States the most Lawless country in the world? Does the US need jobs so bad that it needs prisoners for prisons to give jobs to jailers?
I heard some one the other day complain that we have too many prisoners in this country and two minutes later complained that how come the bankers and other fraudsters that almost brought about the collapse of
the world economy are getting off.
The truth be told I have no answers.