THE NATION'S LEADER IN SQUADERING MONEY ON PRISONS

While California packs inmates into every inch of its prisons, it
doesn't have the nation's highest incarceration rate. But it is No. 1
in what it spends on each prisoner.

The Pew Center on the States offers the latest evidence that
California's prison spending is out of control: $134 a day for each
prisoner is 70 percent above the $79 national average. For much of
it, thank former Gov. Gray Davis for that fat raise he gave prison guards.

California ranked 23rd in the proportion of residents behind bars or
on probation or parole, with 1 of 36 adults in the system, compared
with 1 of 31 nationwide. In Georgia, it's 1 in 13.

Community supervision programs are cheaper and more effective for
many offenders, the Pew Center found. How many times have we heard that before?