Recent news reports confirm that America’s criminal justice system appears to be nothing more than a numbers game, and the taxpayers are on the losing side.

With approximately 2.2 million people incarcerated in our nation’s jails and prisons, our country has more people behind bars than the population of 89 countries of the world. We spend more than $80 billion each year to keep those we determine to be criminals locked up.

According to data from reports last year, Michigan spent more of its general fund budget on prisons than any other state. With annual totals continually hovering around $2 billion, the stte spends more money on its “criminals” than it does on its students seeking higher education. Plus, records show Michigan keeps its prisoners locked up longer than the national average.

But Michigan certainly isn’t alone in this challenge. It is a national issue that continues to spiral out of control.

Here are some more numbers, courtesy of the NAACP.

> From 1980 to 2008, the number of people incarcerated in America quadrupled-from roughly 500,000 to 2.3 million people

> Today, the US is 5 percent of the World population and has 25 percent of world prisoners.

> Combining the number of people in prison and jail with those under parole or probation supervision, 1 in every 31 adults, or 3.2 percent of the population is under some form of correctional control

Patrick Purtill Jr., director of legislative affairs for the Faith and Freedom Coalition, recently spoke to a group of GOP lawmakers attending a summit in neighboring Ohio.

“We’re sending too many people to prison. We’re spending too much money to keep them there for far too long,” he said, according to the Columbus Dispatch reports. “And we’re doing too little to re-enter them into our communities. It’s becoming increasingly clear that over-criminalization and over-incarceration are making our communities less safe.”

“The Faith and Freedom Coalition is one of seven organizations stretching across the ideological spectrum that is partnering with the U.S. Justice Action Network to implement laws that reduce prison populations, implement more rational criminal penalties, and do more to help inmates re-enter society,” the Dispatch report when on to state.

Michigan joins Ohio and Pennsylvania as the three primary states the Action Network is focused on for criminal justice reform.

What’s the point of all this? Simply to say that true reform has to be a piece of the puzzle when it comes to economic recovery for the state and the nation. Correcting the high cost of corrections will allow us to focus on spending more on key areas in which we continue to fall behind including education, infrastructure and economic development.

So, what’s the answer? That remains to be seen but the efforts have to focus on keeping nonviolent lawbreakers out of our prisons, letting judges make decisions based on circumstances rather than minimum sentences and treating those battling drug addiction rather than just locking them behind bars and essentially throwing away the key.

We want our communities to be safe and strong. That starts with spending our money on solutions rather than expensive cages.

Michigan, and the nation, will save money — and maybe even a piece of our humanity as well.

 

Michael Caldwell is the publisher of Leader Publications LLC. He can be reached at (269) 687-7700 or by email at mike.caldwell@leaderpub.com.