Politics and Policy U.S. Prisons Aren't Working (June 18, 2006) * Report Details Failure of U.S. Prison System I know, I know, not another (*yawn*) report on prisons. But it is just another example of how I feel we aren't solving problems in this country. The only way we really punish people in this country, aside from the occassional use of the death penalty, is when we lock them up in prison. Prisons are the "narrow end of the funnel" which constitutes the U.S. justice system. Adding more cops on the street, lengthening prison terms, "three strikes and your out" doesn't have any effect if we don't have space in prison to house the convicts, and if the prison gates are more or less a revolving door for most of the inmates. The current "unofficial" philosophy: "Since we don't have any other remedies, we might as well just lock 'em up until they are too old to cause much trouble." But as U.S. jails and prisons exceed capacity requiring emergency early releases, that solution isn't working very well either. My own suggestion: Make prison terms shorter and considerably more difficult. This may have more of an impact upon the first-timers, and pose the possibility that the offenders will sooner become taxpayers, rather than an expense to society.   Google AdSense        Copyright 2006-2007 - Brookridge Associates Inc. All rights reserved.