PRISONERS BY THE MILLIONS

It is a contradiction for the U.S. to be both a beacon of freedom and the
world's leader in incarcerations.

But that's been true for years now, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics
recently reported that the U.S. prison population has risen again, now
topping 2.1 million.

That growth of about 900 new inmates per week between mid-2003 and mid-2004
is largely due to such 1980s tough-on-crime initiatives as "three strikes
and you're out laws" for repeat offenders, mandatory sentences even for
non-violent drug crimes, and laws that restrict early releases.

About 61 percent of America's inmates are racial and ethnic minorities,
most are poor, and a growing number, now more than 100,000, are females.

The Justice Department put the annual cost of the prison system last year
at about $57 billion.

It's not a good investment.

For one thing, those 30-year-old tough-on-crime initiatives should be
overhauled to reflect today's lower crime rates. Not only that, but far
less costly community-based alternatives to incarceration for non-violent
offenders have been developed during those three decades.

And the $57 billion cost of maintaining the so-called prison/industrial
complex doesn't include other expenses communities incur, such as coping
with children whose parents are incarcerated even though alternative
programs might keep their child support flowing, keep them out of foster
care, and keep them out of the juvenile detention facilities where many end
up in a tragic cycle of criminal behavior.

America won't profit by continuing the growth of a prison system that every
year sucks billions out of the economy without doing much to create a
productive return.