END OF THE PRISON BOOM?

After decades of rapid growth, the number of prison inmates in the US tailed
off last year - increasing by a mere 1 percent, the slowest rate since 1972.

That still leaves 2.1 million people in prisons and jails. But experts feel
the slowing rate may at least indicate the nation has entered a time of
stable, rather than ballooning, prison populations.

This is a positive trend, especially if, as seems likely, it reflects some
serious rethinking of policies that have generated much of the prison boom.

Those policies included mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses. A
number of states have altered their laws requiring such sentences in order
to cut down on the number of inmates. California's voter-approved law
mandating drug treatment instead of incarceration for nonviolent offenders
is perhaps the most radical such step.

In many states, the drive to trim budgets at a time of sharply declining tax
revenues is the driving force behind such changes, rather than penal reform.
Prisons are a major drain on state general funds.

Cost-cutting may also explain liberalized parole policies in some states.
Even states known for being tough on crime, like Texas, have increased the
use of parole for inmates considered nonviolent or rehabilitated.

But such inclinations can still be thwarted by ingrained political
attitudes. Consider the case of Californian David Ramos, who has served 21
years of a 26-year-to-life sentence for dropping off a murderer at the scene
of the crime.

Mr. Ramos has been an exemplary prisoner, earning a college degree while
behind bars, mastering trades, and teaching more than 1,000 fellow inmates
how to read. California's parole board voted to release him earlier this
year. But Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat who has carefully cultivated a
tough-on-crime image, recently vetoed its decision.

Only three states give their governors veto power over paroles. It's a
formula for politicizing the process, and California, Oklahoma, and Maryland
should reconsider.

America's ongoing problems with crime, and politicians' instinct to exploit
the issue, may tend to keep prison populations high in the immediate future.
But reasonable steps, like rolling back mandatory sentences and increased
use of parole or probation for low-risk prisoners, should help keep the
growth rate of those populations under control.