Are there ways to spend less money, enhance public safety, and make a fairer prison system?
Having such a large prison population also has significant employment and productivity implications. The economic output of prisoners is mostly lost to society while they are imprisoned. These negative productivity effects continue after release. As we’ve gotten tough on crime, we’ve given up on rehabilitating offenders. And we’ve created additional barriers to reentry with “invisible punishments.” These include ineligibility for certain government benefits, such as housing, public assistance, or student loans. It is no longer possible to pay your debt to society. We want to keep bad people off our streets. We want to break the back of gangs, and we want to cut down on violent behavior. But there’s something else going on when we’re locking up such a high percentage of our people, marking them at an early age and in many cases eliminating their chances for a productive life as full citizens. It will take years of energy to address these problems. But I am committed to working on a solu
