Wash Post urges stop to "warehousing nonviolent offenders"

The Washington Post has this editorial today, headlined "Too Many Prisoners: States should stop warehousing nonviolent offenders."  Here is how it starts:

Two reports by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics show that the rate of growth in the prison and jail populations of the United States has slowed slightly but that the country still has the dubious distinction of being the largest jailer in the world. As of June 30, 2007, the country held roughly 2.3 million people behind bars, either in local or state jails or in federal prisons.

The cost of housing and caring for inmates has been astronomical, an estimated $55 billion annual expense for taxpayers, according to the Pew Center on the States. The bloated number of inmates has been particularly painful for states, some of which have been forced to cut spending for higher education to fund corrections programs. As a result, California is considering an overhaul of its prison policies, as are Kentucky, Mississippi, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

This fiscal crisis should be a wake-up call for all states.  Tough sentences for murder, rape and the like are unquestionably necessary and contributed to a drop in such crimes over the past two decades. But prisons should be focused on holding the most dangerous criminals rather than on warehousing nonviolent, first-time offenders.

Regular readers know I have done hundreds of posts on these topics.  Here are just a few recent ones for those who want some background support for the Post's ideas:

• Celebrating liberty in the country leading the world in incarceration rates
• New "official" record high in US incarceration population
• Economic woes in Michigan impacting corrections and sentencing
• Why is Senator Jim Webb the only national figure focused on the prison economy?
• Aren't extreme sentences and mass incarceration a "tired philosophy that trusts in government more than people"?
• What will the new libertarian presidential candidate say about mass incarceration and the drug war?
• Hoping for a presidential town hall on crime and punishment
• Another high in depriving liberty: 7.2 million under CJ control
• Examining America's affinity for incarceration
• Recalling the human realities of mass incarceration
• Potent new Pew report documents 1 in 100 prison reality
• "One nation, behind bars"
• Another strong editorial on mass incarceration
• "Why Are So Many Americans in Prison?"
• Another strong piece examining incarceration nation
• It's the prison economy, stupid