BURGEONING PRISON INDUSTRY DOESN'T DETER CRIME, YET WEIGHS HEAVILY ON
TAXPAYERS' WALLETS

Regarding the editorial, "Steadily dropping crime numbers cause for cheer,"
(AC-T, Aug. 27): for the FBI to present good news about crime rates is
newsworthy and surprising. Over decades, that agency portrayed a nation
awash in crime. The annual report arrived coincidentally with the
commencement of budget negotiations with Congress. With no crime increase,
how could the agency budget increase? The field agents are dedicated and
high level people. The political game in Washington is something else.

The editorial says in part, "Some criminologists say tougher prison
sentences and more prisons are key factors." Other criminologists would
challenge this relationship for lack of corroboration. Centuries-old
mathematics and statistics would support or negate a connection. Can we
stop backing this often-made claim without evidence to back it up?

A more obvious factor in crime reduction is better law enforcement. The New
York City Police Department adopted a plan initiated by a career officer in
the 1980s. A decrease in street crimes and burglaries was soon apparent.
The murder rate declined by two-thirds in 10 years.

Detroit and New Orleans adopted the New York plan to tackle what seemed
out-of-control crime with great success. The very good news is that these
results were achieved without major budget increases or construction of
more jails.

If the effectiveness of prisons is doubtful in crime reduction, why do we
use them so strenuously in recent years? Since 1980, our prison population
has tripled. Total numbers have passed the 2 million mark, more than the
per capita numbers in Stalin's Soviet Union. The cost per inmate yearly in
North Carolina is $23,000, and much more in other states.

How come? Conservative writers William Buckley and George Will are among
those who point to the hysterical, counterproductive war on drugs. Few drug
rings have been smashed. Thousands and thousands of first-time offenders
receive "hard time," and are no better when released.

Now we read that Buncombe taxpayers are supposed to be taxed for 100
additional beds to the jail which already dominates our tourist-oriented
skyline. While the state and county commission are crying poverty, library
staff and hours have been reduced, education, health-care and social
service dollars are being threatened, are we expected to pony up $20
million? Give us a break.

One solution to building more cells in the Land of the Sky is right here
and working. Two of the 25 private agencies in North Carolina that offer
alternative sentencing programs are here in the mountains - Buncombe
Alternative Inc., and Western Carolinians for Criminal Justice and Women at
Risk.

Each agency partners with state overseers to offer programs to nonviolent
offenders in cooperation with probation officers, mental health, vocational
counselors and health professionals. For one-fifth the cost of
incarceration, successful clients are paying crime victims and reordering
their lives as taxpaying rather than tax-receiving citizens.

These North Carolina agencies are winning friends across the political
aisle. Legislators are interested in cost effective programs that work.

If this sounds good, please contact Asheville City Council, the Buncombe
County Commission and our local state representatives and senators. Let's
roll back America's fastest growing, most destructive industry, the prison
industry. Save prison for the truly violent.

Bob MacPherson is a retired audiologist and is the pro bono secretary of
the Board of Western Carolinians for Criminal Justice. He lives in Asheville.