Thursday, May 03, 2007
SOLVING JAIL OVERCROWDING AND BUDGET PROBLEMS
An article in yesterday's issue of the Post and Courier discusses Charleston County's solution for the burgeoning inmate population. In a nutshell, the Charleston County Council plans to spend hundreds of million of dollars to expand the facilities.
In a similar vein, an article in the April 29, 2007 edition of the New York Times discusses some California programs that allow "offenders whose crimes are usually relatively minor...and whose bank accounts remain lofty...pay-to-stay upgrades" where they are isolated from the general inmate population and allowed more privileges. They are provided with "a clean, quiet, if not exactly recherché alternative to the standard county jails, where the walls are bars, the fellow inmates are hardened and privileges are few."
Although critics of these pay-to-upgrade prison facilities claim that they are inherently unfair, the cities that utilize them counter by saying that "the paying inmates generate cash, often hundreds of thousands of dollars a year-enabling them to better afford their other taxpayer-financed operations."
In our opinion, the solution to California's problem is identical to the solution to Charleston County's problem. They should quit building so many jails which have to be stocked with groceries and for which guards have to be hired and and so on and so on. Instead, they should spend some of their time, money, and creative energy teaching young men how to avoid unwanted pregnancies and how to provide for their offspring. We should fine and/or assign public service to people who commit silly/petty offenses rather than incarcerating them. We should reserve our jail cells for the really bad people who need to be segregated from the rest of us and punished. Otherwise, we will eventually run out of money for other things.
An article in yesterday's issue of the Post and Courier discusses Charleston County's solution for the burgeoning inmate population. In a nutshell, the Charleston County Council plans to spend hundreds of million of dollars to expand the facilities.
In a similar vein, an article in the April 29, 2007 edition of the New York Times discusses some California programs that allow "offenders whose crimes are usually relatively minor...and whose bank accounts remain lofty...pay-to-stay upgrades" where they are isolated from the general inmate population and allowed more privileges. They are provided with "a clean, quiet, if not exactly recherché alternative to the standard county jails, where the walls are bars, the fellow inmates are hardened and privileges are few."
Although critics of these pay-to-upgrade prison facilities claim that they are inherently unfair, the cities that utilize them counter by saying that "the paying inmates generate cash, often hundreds of thousands of dollars a year-enabling them to better afford their other taxpayer-financed operations."
In our opinion, the solution to California's problem is identical to the solution to Charleston County's problem. They should quit building so many jails which have to be stocked with groceries and for which guards have to be hired and and so on and so on. Instead, they should spend some of their time, money, and creative energy teaching young men how to avoid unwanted pregnancies and how to provide for their offspring. We should fine and/or assign public service to people who commit silly/petty offenses rather than incarcerating them. We should reserve our jail cells for the really bad people who need to be segregated from the rest of us and punished. Otherwise, we will eventually run out of money for other things.
Labels: Jail Overcrowding
