NEW REPORT ON PRISONS SHOWS NEED FOR REFORM

The report on the nation's prison population from the Bureau of Prison
Statistics paints a grim picture of a nation with a rising rate of
incarceration, even as its crime rate is on the decline.

The numbers are startling. Last year, there were more than 2.1 million
people in prison across the nation, an increase of 2.6 percent over the
previous year. The annual cost to the federal government and the states is
about $40 billion.

That the increase in the number of inmates - and the attendant cost of
housing them - came at a time when the crime rate was declining slightly
raises serious concerns about the efficacy of the nation's criminal justice
system. The cost to society must be measured not simply in dollars, but
also in humanity.

The system is out of balance and needs to be reformed.

The idea of 2.1 million people behind bars is sobering enough, but trying
to put that number in some kind of perspective gives a greater sense of the
human toll.

Nationwide, one of every 143 people is in prison. In a city the size of
Springfield, that translates to more than 1,000 incarcerated individuals.

Any debate on prison reform should begin with a discussion about the
function of incarceration, of the penal system in general. At the extremes,
the debate would seem to be fairly simple, but the facts belie that notion.

There are people - murderers would be the most obvious example - who are
deemed to be unfit to walk freely in society, at least for a time. They are
imprisoned for their crimes not only as punishment, but also for the safety
of others. There is also the notion, sadly often lost these days, of the
chance of a prisoner being rehabilitated during incarceration.

At the other extreme would be a non-violent crime in which a law is broken
but there is no real victim. Someone who has been caught cultivating
marijuana might serve as an example. Unfortunately, he may also serve in a
federal prison alongside a murderer. In fact, slightly more than half of
all prisoners in the federal system have been convicted of drug offenses.
This is unconscionable.

What the report makes clear is that it's the nation's penal system itself
that is in need of rehabilitation.