PRISON NATION

Extreme overcrowding in California's prison system, the nation's
largest, led a panel of three federal judges in early February to
call for reducing the state's prison population by a third.

The prison system holds twice the number it was designed for, with
tiered bunks filling gyms and classrooms. The judges were especially
alarmed by the effects of the crowding, which has led to
deterioration in mental and physical health care, preventable deaths
and suicides at the rate of one a month-a situation so dire they
called it a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against
cruel and unusual punishment. A primary cause of the crowding is
mandatory minimum sentencing policies, which essentially tie judges'
hands in meting out sentences, especially regarding drug offenses,
which are common.

California has made extensive use of such sentences and also the
so-called "three strikes laws," which require sentences of 25 years
to life for third-time felony offenders, no matter what the third offense is.

California's incarceration problems, however, are simply outsized
reflections of what is happening around the country.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in December that the
nation's prison population continues to rise, with almost 2.5 million
people behind bars. Many prisons are managed privately by groups like
the Corrections Corporation of America. In the United States the
overall cost of incarceration exceeds $60 billion a year.

Sentencing practices in Europe, by contrast, tend to be far more
conducive to rehabilitation. In Norway, for example, few prisoners
serve more than 14 years, even for such a serious crime as murder.

In many cases prisoners receive weekend parole after they have served
seven years.

This allows them to maintain contact with their families, which has
long been recognized as a key factor in lowering recidivism rates.

In Italy, after serving 10 years a prisoner may be permitted to work
in the community during the day.

The situation of some children in correctional facilities in the
United States also cries out for change.

Prosecuted as adults, many children as young as 13 are serving life
sentences in adult facilities, where abuse is common. A related issue
concerns an increase in the number of incarcerated parents. According
to the nonprofit Sentencing Project, 1.7 million children have a
parent in prison, an increase of over 80 percent since 1981. Most
such parents live in prisons that are more than 100 miles from their
homes, and as a consequence half never receive visits from their children.

That situation is counterproductive, since strong family and
community relationships increase the chances of a successful
transition back into the community. (When those with felony drug
convictions are eventually paroled, their transition is made still
more difficult because they are banned specifically from receiving
welfare and food stamps.)

The judges in California suggest sensible steps to reduce prison
crowding without endangering public safety.

One is to improve the parole procedures that currently contribute to
the high rates of recidivism. In California and other states, one in
three prisoners released on parole is incarcerated again within three
years because of inadequate supportive planning.

Also, sentences should be shortened for nonviolent offenders.

And more offenders ought to be enrolled in local programs, like
addiction-control programs, that would keep them close to their
communities. Steps like these could remove from the United States its
embarrassing title as world leader in the percentage of its
population behind bars.

A few states have already taken steps in the right direction.

A bipartisan group of legislators in Virginia, for instance, has
suggested releasing early some nonviolent offenders, including those
convicted of drug possession, who would be sent to mandatory
treatment programs early in their sentences rather than toward the
end. Lawmakers in Washington State allow early release for up to half
of all nonviolent offenders.

Although it might be tempting in a time of rising unemployment for
states to build more prisons, such an approach is no remedy.

Ryan King, a policy analyst at the Sentencing Project, told America
that the problems at the root of the overcrowding-hasty parole
revocations, mandatory sentence laws and lack of re-entry
planning-would remain in an expanded prison system, with the same
nonviolent offenders cycling through and filling the prisons. What is
needed is a humane and cost-effective restructuring of key aspects of
the criminal justice system, like those suggested by the California
judges. State legislators can and should make structural changes that
would reduce the severe overcrowding in prison facilities around the
country. Addressing draconian sentencing policies would be a good
place to start.