PARENT'S RIGHTS NOW!

The United States, which has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, has about one-quarter of its prisoners. But the relentless rise in the nation’s prison population has suddenly slowed as many states discover that it is simply too expensive to over incarcerate.

Between 1987 and 2007 the prison population nearly tripled, from 585,000 to almost 1.6 million. Much of that increase occurred in states — many with falling crime rates — that had adopted overly harsh punishment policies, such as the “three strikes and you’re out” rule and drug laws requiring that nonviolent drug offenders be locked away.

These policies have been hugely costly. According to the Pew Center on the States, state spending from general funds on corrections increased from $10.6 billion in 1987 to more than $44 billion in 2007, a 127 percent increase in inflation-adjusted dollars. In the same period, adjusted spending on higher education increased only 21 percent.

In 2008, the explosion of the prison population ground to a near halt, according to data released last month by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. About 739,000 inmates were admitted to federal and state facilities, only about 3,500 more than were released.

One factor seems to be tight budgets as states decide to release nonviolent offenders early. This can not only save money. If done correctly, it can also be very sound social policy. Many nonviolent offenders can be dealt with more effectively and more cheaply through treatment and jobs programs.

Michigan, which has been hard hit by the recession, has done a particularly good job of releasing people who do not need to be in prison. As the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project details in a new report, Michigan reduced its prison population by about 8 percent between March 2007 and November 2009 by taking smart steps, notably doing more to get nonviolent drug offenders out, while helping in their transition to a productive, and crime-free, life.

Not every state has gotten the message. Florida, for example, has a state law mandating that all prisoners serve a high percentage of their sentence, which is both dubious corrections policy and terrible fiscal policy.

For many years, driving up prison populations has been an easy thing for elected officials to do, popular with voters and powerful corrections officer unions. The new incarceration figures suggest, however, that in the current hard economic times, strapped states are beginning to realize that they do not have the money to keep people in prison who do not need to be there.

Those demanding the incarceration of fathers in arrears on child support should themselves be jailed for their own overdue payments to their creditors. After all, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Discriminately incarcerating one class of people (fathers) for overdue financial obligations in a society, and not incarcerating others who are guilty of the same, amounts to a state-sanctioned discriminatory inquisition.

Perhaps all single mothers with delinquent and outstanding medical bills for treatment of their children should be summarily jailed? If a father becomes involuntarily unemployed following massive layoffs, and is without income and therefore "refuses" (or so he's accused) to pay his child support should be jailed for being a "deadbeat," then it logically follows that a mother who "refuses" to seek medical treatment for a sick child simply because she is without the means to pay is also without a valid excuse and should be locked up as well.

A South Carolina bill seeks to protect pets in domestic violence cases to make it easier for victims to leave their abusers.

Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg told The State newspaper some women stay because their abuser has threatened to kill their beloved pets if they leave. Her bill would allow victims seeking temporary restraining orders to ask a judge for custody of a pet.

Advocates of domestic violence victims praised the legislation as removing one barrier that keeps women from seeking help.

South Carolina consistently ranks high nationwide in domestic violence. The state ranks second nationwide in women killed by men in the latest report by the Violence Policy Center. A House subcommittee hearing for the bill has not been set.

All adulterers in South Carolina shall immediately be removed from public office. Moreover, in the event that two unmarried adults have sexual intercourse in South Carolina and conceive a child, then they are deemed to be husband and wife as a matter of law with all the rights and obligations attendant thereto. Additionally any unmarried man over forty years of age who shall have sexual relations of any nature within the borders of the State of South Carolina with an unmarried woman more than ten years his junior shall be deemed her husband and upon the subsequent dissolution of their marriage, for whatever reason, shall be required to pay her annual alimony in an amount not less than 50% of his gross yearly income.