THE HIGH COST OF EMPTY PRISONS

LAST Wednesday, changes to New York's notorious Rockefeller drug laws
went into effect, allowing judges to shorten the prison terms of some
nonviolent offenders. This measure will further reduce New York's
prison population, which has already declined, in the past 10 years,
from about 71,600 in 1999 to about 59,300 today. (The state's crime
rate also dropped substantially during that time.)

Nevertheless, mainly because of opposition from the correction
officers' union and politicians from the upstate areas where most of
our correctional facilities are, the state has been slow to close
prisons. It was not until earlier this year that policymakers in
Albany, confronted with fiscal crisis, mustered the will to shut
three prison camps and seven prison annexes -- a total of about 2,250
prison beds -- in a move that is expected to save $52 million over
the next two years.

But the state could go further. The prison system still has more than
5,000 empty beds in 69 prisons. What's more, there are other ways to
lower the prison population. For starters, state lawmakers could
repeal the Rockefeller mandatory sentencing provisions that remain on
the books. They could also increase the number of participants on
work release. In 1994, more than 27,000 people were in this
time-tested program that helps them manage the transition back to
their communities. Today, about 2,500 are enrolled.

In addition, the state could reduce the number of people -- last
year, more than 9,000 -- who are returned to prison for technical
parole violations like missing a meeting with an officer or breaking
curfew. Most experts agree that for about half of these people it
would be safer and smarter to enroll them in re-entry programs or
provide more supervision. Also, more prisoners with good
institutional records could be given parole. And eligibility for
so-called merit time, which reduces prison terms for inmates who
complete educational and other programs, could be expanded to people
convicted of violent offenses many years ago.

Taken together, these actions could cut the state's prison rolls by
5,000 to 10,000 more, enabling the governor and the legislature to
close at least four prisons the size of Attica, which holds 2,100
inmates, or a greater number of smaller facilities.

After New York passed the Rockefeller drug laws in 1973, a mandatory
sentencing movement swept the country, raising the nationwide prison
population to nearly 2.4 million, from 300,000. This experiment in
mass incarceration was a failure. There is no conclusive evidence
that it enhanced public safety, and some research suggests that time
in prison makes people more prone to violence. It wasted billions of
dollars a year. And it has devastated the low-income minority
communities where most of our prisoners come from.

New York can now help point criminal justice in a more sensible and
constructive direction -- and show other states how to save money --
by downsizing its prison system.