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Editorial: Americans in Jail

Locked up; locked out

Welcome to America, the prison capital of the world.

A report released last month by the Pew Center on the States says that the number of prisoners in federal and local jails grew to 2.3 million last year. That's akin to locking up the entire state of Nevada.

About one in every 99 adults is behind bars. One in every 9 African American men between 20 and 34 is incarcerated.

China, the most populous country in the world, has a population of 1.3 billion compared with 300 million in the United States. Yet, America has more people in prison than what China claims.

What does that say about the land of the free?

In many places across America, the local prison is the main employer. Corrections facilities have become a growth industry. The term

prison-industrial complex

was coined for the ugly willingness of states and businesses to make money off the local slammer.

Yet, it doesn't have to be this way. The Pew study showed that the United States is great at locking people up but lousy at rehabilitating them.

Here's the problem: Once prisoners serve their terms and are released, one in three are back behind bars within five years. The cycle begins again.

Prison Nation also strikes at the family, especially when women with children are incarcerated. More than a third of U.S. children, by some estimates, grow up without stable families, thanks in large part to Prison Nation. And a large proportion of the inmates at prisons and jails come from unstable family backgrounds.

Besides the cost to society there is a huge cost to taxpayers - $21,000 a year - to warehouse each inmate. But politicians know that toughness gets votes. They think as long as they throw the bums in jail, they've done their jobs.

However, justice isn't done once a sentence is imposed. Part of that justice system's job is to prevent crime, and ease re-entry for inmates.

Mandatory sentencing prevents any flexibility for judges. Creative uses of probation, fines, restitution, diversion service or community service could keep convicted people out of jail while still paying their social debts.

Residential programs such as halfway houses and "boot camps" could allow prisoners to attend work, job training, or school during the day and return to detention at night. All of these are being tried here and there - none is used enough.

In Philadelphia, the spate of violent deaths in 2007 illustrates the price society pays when prisoners aren't readied for release. The large majority of both perpetrators and homicide victims on the streets of Philadelphia last year had criminal records.

Granted, violent crime and murder rates are down since 1980. But smarter policing and changing demographics have played a bigger role than long prison sentences.

Everyone - not only government, but also nonprofit agencies, local communities, families and friends - could do better at preserving the families of incarcerated people during their sentences, and better preparing exiting inmates to rejoin society.

There are better and less costly alternatives. In the long run, the country would be safer and society would be better off.