WHEN PRISONS BULGE, IT'S GOOD NEWS

EVERY year, the Justice Department releases figures on the nation's prison
population, and they invariably set off a gnashing of teeth by liberals
about the injustice of it all.

The latest report, made public on Aug. 2, showed that the prison population
shot up another 5.2 percent in 1997, bringing the number of adults who
reside in federal and state prisons to 1,244,554 -- 61,186 more than lived
in these facilities in 1996. The average annual growth since 1990 -- when
the population stood at 774,000 -- has been 7 percent.

If this trend continues, the critics say, there will be 2 million people
ringing in the millennium from behind prison walls. This is shameful, they
say. In the whole world, the United States is second only to Russia in the
percentage of its total population that lives behind bars. And what's more,
they say, crime rates have been falling since 1992 -- homicides are down,
rapes are down, auto theft is down, personal theft is down. So why, the
critics wail, do prison populations continue to expand?

Well, gee, one wonders. Could not one have something to do with the other?
I know it is not hip to argue that fear of detention deters crime, but it
does get crooks off the streets.

I tend to rejoice when I see that prisons are bulging. It is evidence, I
think, that government is finally performing one of its fundamental
functions: protecting and safeguarding the population.

The main reason for the growth in prison population, a Justice Department
statistician told the Associated Press, is that inmates are serving longer
terms. The trend is a product, the official said, ``of tougher parole
boards and such measures as longer minimum sentences and
truth-in-sentencing laws that require that more of each sentence be served
behind bars.''

Even with these improvements, the figures fail to satisfy those of us who
believe that sane people who do violence to others, particularly the
innocent, should pay very painful prices. The average murderer is serving
barely more than seven years before being set free, and violent offenders
in general serve but 42 percent of their sentences. And Justice Department
figures show that half of all paroled and pardoned prisoners commit new
crimes within three years of their release.

Lock 'em up, we say, and lose the key.

Which brings me to one final gripe that we hard-liners are fond of voicing:
Prisons are just too damn comfortable. Most of us would probably not go so
far as to endorse the practices of the fabled sheriff of Maricopa County,
Ariz., Joe Arpaio, who forces prisoners to live in tents, and wear pink
underwear and black-and-white-striped uniforms.

But we do believe that golf courses, cable television and catered prime rib
dinners -- all of which can be found in some of the country clubs that hold
American criminals -- are a bit much.

Something in between would do nicely. For all his excesses, Sheriff Arpaio
has the right idea. In his autobiography, ``America's Toughest Sheriff,''
he wrote: ``Inmates should never live better in jail than on the outside.
It's that simple.''

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski