PRISONERS TO THE PAST

A new Bureau of Justice Statistics report showing a record number of people
in the U.S. correctional system also shows that many states and communities
aren't locked in to past ways of punishment.

When states spend twice as much money for prisons as for schools, no wonder
governors and legislators want to reverse the trend. While the numbers of
prisoners behind bars, or on probation or parole hit 6.6 million last year,
some states began to abandon the get-tough measures that created the
cell-building boom of the 1990s. The result is a slower rate of growth. The
federal prison population showed the biggest growth at 8%, but state prison
populations rose by a slight 0.3%.

Not surprisingly, the cost of incarceration and building had a lot to do
with slower growth at the state level. Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi -
the states with the highest incarceration rates - all made major changes in
their laws to reduce the pressure to build while putting their correction
dollars to work in better ways.

Louisiana became one of the first states to take a second look at the
''three strikes'' law as well as mandatory minimum sentences. Along with
Mississippi, Louisiana also cut the length of sentences of non-violent
offenders and some drug offenses. Texas, which has the most adults under
corrections, increased the numbers it paroled in 2001 over the previous
year by 31%.

Corrections is never a top priority in the state budget, even though it
dwarfs education spending. In Tennessee with a tight budget for the
foreseeable future, corrections is likely to get little attention. Since
the state is already planning to spend money on prisons, however, it should
be willing to look at other, less costly options. The state's own studies
have shown that its system provides little more than a revolving door for
prisoners. Tennesseans don't have to free those prisoners to free their
minds about how to deal with them effectively.