There is a silver lining in this economic downturn, and it's unexpected. With state and county governments in dire financial straits, they are looking for places to save. And one place that would work to save millions of dollars: the jail and prison system.
Yesterday a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order that would make California release up to a third of its prisoners--57,000, many held on "three strikes and you're out" or on non-violent charges, in order to end the notorious overcrowding of the state's prisons.
Building prisons during the 1980s and 1990s had been a boom industry for the Golden State. Now it is draining the resources needed to keep the state economically vibrant. 170,000 men and women are locked up in the state. Now that's a crime.
Take a look at this handy interactive map to see just how big an industry prisons have become in this country.
The United States not only has the largest prison population, but the highest incarceration rate. Check out this world map.
Here in New York, it's time to reexamine the Rockefeller Drug laws that jail folks who should be in recovery.
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