ALL THOSE PEOPLE IN JAIL, AND WHAT DO WE HAVE TO SHOW FOR IT?

As of 2005, the total prison population of China was 1,565,771, the
second largest in the world.

Not too surprising, of course.

After all, China is a dictatorship with little regard for the rule of
law or individual rights.

As of 2006, the per capita rate of incarceration for Cuba was 531 per
100,000 persons. That ranks Cuba fifth in the world.

Once again, not much of a surprise.

Cuba, too, is a dictatorship. But what is surprising (at least to me)
is the country that ranks first both in absolute prison population
numbers and in per capita rate of incarceration. As of 2006, the U.S.
prison population was 2,258,983. That's more than 40 percent higher
than second place China. The U.S. also is first in per capita prison
population rate at 751 per 100,000. Russia ranks second at 628. To put
the U.S. position in further perspective, here are rates for other
Western democracies: France -- 91, Germany -- 92, England -- 147, and
Spain -- 149 (King's College London, http://www.prisonstudies.org/).
The European rates are nearly an order of magnitude lower than ours.
Surprising numbers I don't know about you, but those figures shock me.
Maybe I'm naive, but I thought we were the good guys. I believe in
being tough on crime.

I worry about liberal judges who slap hardened criminals on the wrist
and allow them to return to a life of crime after a nominal stay in
prison. But more Americans in jail than Russians, Chinese, Cubans,
Iranians, Syrians? There is something jarringly wrong with that. And
why aren't we talking about that situation?

Why aren't most of us even aware of it? The Citizen-Times recently did
report that the U.S. had just reached a milestone of one American in
jail for every 100 adults (King's College figures are based on total
population). But I must have missed the context. I suppose I assumed
that if we had one in 100 adults in jail, then countries like Russia,
China and Cuba had one in 50.

I recently wrote a guet column for the Citizen-Times arguing that we
ought to legalize cocaine and other "hard" drugs.

Does that mean I don't recognize cocaine as a dangerous substance?

No, I have no doubt it is both highly addictive and very dangerous.

However, as I pointed out in my earlier article, "... illicit drugs
are cheaper and purer (now) than they were in 1980, and continue to be
readily available." If you understand how the market works to set
prices, you understand that our current policy is not working (or
illegal drugs wouldn't be both purer and cheaper). Illegal drug sales
generate massive profits that are a source both of violent competition
and social corruption. If the policy of prohibition isn't working,
doesn't it make sense to consider changing the policy?

What's best course? So what do we do? Mandatory sentencing so that we
could prevent liberal judges from coddling drug dealers?

Oops. We already have mandatory sentencing. Implement harsher
penalties for drug dealing?

But our current laws already impose a life sentence for a first time
conviction for drug dealing, even for a person with no prior criminal
record.

The next step, I suppose, would be to physically punish offenders.

Could we consider cutting off an arm? I am all for whatever might
work, but I am skeptical that this is a politically viable
alternative. I suggested legalizing cocaine.

That's, I admit, a radical step. But what's your alternative? We
appear to have reached our socially acceptable limit on punishment,
and all we are doing is filling our jails.

I started out by reviewing incarceration statistics. I don't see how
anyone can rationally support our current sentencing policies (and not
just for drugs). For whatever reason, we are putting too many people
in jail. Surely we can agree that something is wrong when we have more
people in jail than any other society on earth, and by a wide margin?

At least 20 percent of the people in jail are there for drug-related
offenses (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm). Maybe one place
to start is to legalize "hard" drugs and release 20 percent of the
current prison population. What's your solution?

Ned Cabaniss is a retired U.S. Army colonel.

For much of his 30-year career, he served as an intelligence officer.

He is a member of the Citizen-Times advisory board and lives in
Fairview.