PRISONS: IF YOU BUILD THEM . . .

America's prison population is rolling upwards like the "hamburgers
served" tally on a McDonald's restaurant sign. By mid-February, more
than 2 million people will be under lock and key, according to a
recent study by the Justice Policy Institute. That figure--a
record--reflects the accelerated pace at which Americans are building
prisons.

Costs are skyrocketing, too. For the first time, the study shows, the
states have been spending more money building new space for prisons
than building new space for university classrooms.

Those figures are hardly cause for glee, especially since more than
half (approximately 1.2 million) of those in prison are there for
non-violent offenses.

A century after the juvenile court system was established in Chicago,
10 percent of the nation's 85,000 incarcerated juveniles are in the
adult system, a new federally mandated study by the Coalition for
Juvenile Justice reports. Most of the rest are in facilities with
little or no treatment or rehabilitative programming. Yet only
one-third of detained juveniles are being punished for crimes as
serious as robbery, assault, rape or murder.

But the incarceration spree has given us the biggest drop in crime
rates in 30 years, right? Maybe not. The study found that violent
crime has dropped faster since 1995 in San Francisco, for example,
than in New York, even though San Francisco slashed the number of
people it was sending to prison by more than half between 1993 and
1998.

Incarcerating people for non-violent offenses reduces the benefits of
reductions in crime. It also borrows against the future: One wonders
what prospects for leading productive, law-abiding lives most of these
inmates will have when they eventually make their way back to the streets.

Jail is one, narrow remedy for the wide range of complex problems that
lead to higher crime rates. Better options, particularly for
juveniles, include community service, house arrest with electronic
monitoring and restitution programs to compensate the victims of crimes.

A broad menu of programs helps inmates readjust to civilian life. They
include those of the Chicago-based SAFER Foundation and the San
Francisco sheriff's Supervised Misdemeanor Release Program.

Some offenders belong in jail. But many others could become
taxpayers--instead of tax users--with drug treatment, job training,
education and other rehabilitative help. Imprisonment has been a
growth industry long enough. Our criminal justice and social service
systems need to try some better ideas.