Kansas City, Mo. ? One in 20 adult males is either behind bars or on parole in Missouri, and more Missourians are behind bars per capita than any state outside the South, according to new U.S. Department of Justice statistics.

An analysis of the Justice Department data found Missouri to have the eighth-highest imprisonment rate in the country. Missouri prisons have about 15,000 nonviolent offenders locked up, costing taxpayers an estimated $195 million a year.

Part of that bill comes from the 300 deadbeat dads who are locked up, at a cost of $3.9 million a year, or $13,000 per father.

“I hate sending people to prison, period,” said Jefferson County Circuit Judge Edward Williams, who sentenced one man to four years in prison for ignoring court orders to pay $17,000 in child support. “But for child-support laws to mean anything, prison has to be an option.”

The state’s prison population has doubled since 1990, now totaling nearly 30,000. The penitentiary appears to be the preferred option for judges, and a costly one for taxpayers.

Since 1990, the costs for taxpayers to operate the prison system have more than doubled, to $575 million a year. That makes the Corrections Department’s budget the second-fastest-growing in state government.