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<\/a>\nWe’ve\n<\/a>\nWe’ve\n\nlocked a lot of people up since 1980,<\/a>\nmaking \nthe U.S. the world leader in prison population (both total and per capita),\nand the south the leader of the U.S.<\/a>\nLocking up a lot of non-violent offenders, especially drug offenders,\nhasn’t bought us much safety and has caused a lot of problems.\n\nFortunately,\n\nsomebody is trying to do something about it:<\/a>\n \nMeanwhile,\n\nJim Webb explains the problem in Parade:<\/a>\n \nWe need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide\nrecalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we\naddress the long-term consequences of incarceration. Twenty-five years\nago, I went to Japan on assignment for PARADE to write a story on that\ncountry’s prison system. In 1984, Japan had a population half the size\nof ours and was incarcerating 40,000 sentenced offenders, compared\nwith 580,000 in the United States. As shocking as that disparity was,\nthe difference between the countries now is even more astounding–and\nprofoundly disturbing. Since then, Japan’s prison population has not\nquite doubled to 71,000, while ours has quadrupled to 2.3 million.\n \nThe United States has by far the world’s highest incarceration rate. With\n5% of the world’s population, our country now houses nearly 25% of the\nworld’s reported prisoners. We currently incarcerate 756 inmates per\n100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the average worldwide of 158\nfor every 100,000. In addition, more than 5 million people who recently\nleft jail remain under “correctional supervision,” which includes parole,\nprobation, and other community sanctions. All told, about one in every\n31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail, or on supervised\nrelease. This all comes at a very high price to taxpayers: Local, state,\nand federal spending on corrections adds up to about $68 billion a year.\n \nOur overcrowded, ill-managed prison systems are places of violence,\nphysical abuse, and hate, making them breeding grounds that perpetuate\nand magnify the same types of behavior we purport to fear.\n<\/blockquote>\n \nAnd\n\nArlen Specter gets into details in an op-ed in the Philadelphia newspaper:<\/a>\n \nIn another example of dubious penology, too many mentally ill people\nare treated as miscreants or felons rather than as patients in need of\ntreatment. There are four times as many mentally ill people in prison\nthan in mental health hospitals. Many of these individuals end up back\non the streets.\n \nThis is not about people convicted of violent crimes. We need to make\nsure that dangerous criminals and second-time offenders with a history\nof violence go to jail. As a former prosecutor who served two terms as\nD.A. in Philadelphia, I’m a strong proponent of incarcerating violent\ncriminals for public safety and deterrence. And I support the death\npenalty in especially egregious cases.\n \nBut I also believe we need to restore judicial discretion in low-level\ndrug cases and other nonviolent crimes. With our federal prisons at\n140 percent capacity and with 7.3 million Americans incarcerated or\non probation or parole – a number equivalent to 1 in every 31 adults –\nthe issue cannot wait.\n<\/blockquote>\n \nThe question we started with, jail deaths in Lowndes County jail<\/a>, is only a symptom.\nThe problem is much larger.\nFortunately, we can do something about it.\n\nWashington, DC–Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) today introduced bipartisan legislation to create a blue-ribbon commission charged with conducting an 18-month, top-to-bottom review of the nation’s entire criminal justice system and offering concrete recommendations for reform. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), Ranking Member on the Judiciary Committee, is the principal Republican cosponsor.\n<\/blockquote>\nYou can \nfollow the progress of S.714 online;<\/a> it’s currently before the\nSenate Judiciary Committee.\n
\nAmerica’s criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it\nis a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against\nthe notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our\nfailure to address this problem has caused the nation’s prisons to burst\ntheir seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have\nbecome more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing\nmillions of lives.\n
\nThe U.S. criminalizes conduct that would be better left to treatment\nand penalties other than imprisonment. Take drugs. The number of jailed\ndrug offenders has soared 1,200 percent since 1980 despite the fact\nthat many of these offenders have no history of violence or high-level\ndrug distribution. Many are behind bars under sentencing guidelines that\nleave judges no choice.\n