WISCONSIN'S CAROUSEL OF PRISONERS

Wisconsin's prison system is like an out-of-control carousel.

In 2005, for example, 7,700 new inmates got onboard just as 8,800
parolees stepped off and headed for home -- up from 1,600 in 1980.
Wisconsin towns and cities are struggling to cope with the special
services needed by this growing number of new parolees returning home
each year.

America's lock 'em up drug laws are keeping this merry-go-round
spinning faster and faster. Nationally, the portion of inmates
leaving state prisons after serving time for non-violent drug
offenses has shot up from 11 percent in 1985 to 37 percent in 2005.
Here is how this trend plays out in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin prisons held only 3,700 men and women in 1980. By 2006 that
number grew to 21,400. Today Wisconsin's incarceration rate -- the
number of state prisoners per every 100,000 population -- is 386. In
1980 it was only 85.

While the enforcement of federal and state drug laws has not lowered
the availability or use of illegal drugs, those laws have done more
harm than good for drug users, taxpayers and local communities.
Instead of dealing with drug abuse as a health issue in education and
treatment centers, drug laws have sent thousands of otherwise
law-abiding citizens to prison. But prison time can backfire.

Life behind bars is an ideal environment for nonviolent inmates to
become socially alienated and to learn new criminal skills from other
inmates. Upon their release, many drug users are likely to pose a
greater risk to society than when they entered prison.

Wisconsin's prison merry-go-round would stop turning if not for the
generous contribution of more than $700 million each year from state taxpayers.

And nationally it costs much more to enforce drugs laws that don't do
what the lawmakers say they were intended to do. The National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in Washington estimates
that U.S. taxpayers are spending more than $1 billion a year just to
lock up 33,600 state and 10,700 federal marijuana offenders. Most of
these people do not belong behind bars.

Once their prison phase ends, parolees face an uphill struggle as
they try to put their lives back together. Trouble finding jobs and a
place to live are common problems and force many ex-convicts to seek
help from local agencies.

But instead of fixing the root cause of this problem, federal and
state officials are turning to churches and social service agencies
to salvage their failed policies. Faith-based service grants from
Uncle Sam are already being used by communities to cope with newly
released inmates. Trouble is, these efforts address only a symptom of
the problem, not the problem itself.

What to do? About one-half of all U.S. inmates are non-violent
offenders. Would it not make a lot more sense to solve the returning
prisoner crisis by drastically cutting the number of non-violent
people cycled through Wisconsin's prisons and sent back to their
hometowns every year?

Policy makers in Madison need to stop sending non-violent offenders
to prison and increase the use of non-prison punishments, including
treatment for drug abusers and support services for other non-violent
offenders. This would drastically slow down Wisconsin's prison
merry-go-round, save taxpayers a lot of money, and shrink by up to
one-half the number of ex-inmates headed back to local communities each year.