PRISONS AND BUDGETS

The United States, which has less than 5 percent of the world's
population, has about one-quarter of its prisoners. But the
relentless rise in the nation's prison population has suddenly slowed
as many states discover that it is simply too expensive to overincarcerate.

Between 1987 and 2007 the prison population nearly tripled, from
585,000 to almost 1.6 million. Much of that increase occurred in
states -- many with falling crime rates -- that had adopted overly
harsh punishment policies, such as the "three strikes and you're out"
rule and drug laws requiring that nonviolent drug offenders be locked away.

These policies have been hugely costly. According to the Pew Center
on the States, state spending from general funds on corrections
increased from $10.6 billion in 1987 to more than $44 billion in
2007, a 127 percent increase in inflation-adjusted dollars. In the
same period, adjusted spending on higher education increased only 21 percent.

In 2008, the explosion of the prison population ground to a near
halt, according to data released last month by the Bureau of Justice
Statistics. About 739,000 inmates were admitted to federal and state
facilities, only about 3,500 more than were released.

One factor seems to be tight budgets as states decide to release
nonviolent offenders early. This can not only save money. If done
correctly, it can also be very sound social policy. Many nonviolent
offenders can be dealt with more effectively and more cheaply through
treatment and jobs programs.

Michigan, which has been hard hit by the recession, has done a
particularly good job of releasing people who do not need to be in
prison. As the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison
Project details in a new report, Michigan reduced its prison
population by about 8 percent between March 2007 and November 2009 by
taking smart steps, notably doing more to get nonviolent drug
offenders out, while helping in their transition to a productive, and
crime-free, life.

Not every state has gotten the message. Florida, for example, has a
state law mandating that all prisoners serve a high percentage of
their sentence, which is both dubious corrections policy and terrible
fiscal policy.

For many years, driving up prison populations has been an easy thing
for elected officials to do, popular with voters and powerful
corrections officer unions. The new incarceration figures suggest,
however, that in the current hard economic times, strapped states are
beginning to realize that they do not have the money to keep people
in prison who do not need to be there.