In 1996 a Wisconsin task force noted that although the police had made 94 drug-related arrests in three months at the corner of 9th and Concordia, most of them leading to prison sentences, the drug market continued and public safety did not improve. We need to come up with sanctions that are graduated so that our only options are not nothing, or prison, or probation. What made that conclusion particularly noteworthy was that Piehl and DiIulio had argued for years in favor of more prisons. Lisa Roberson offers one answer to that question. This is no country club.
Residents sleep ten to a room.
Just about every minute of their day, starting with a 6 A.M. wake-up call, is plotted for them. Add in the value of incarceration avoided and taxes paid by the freed, and it adds up. Given this context, it's little short of tragic that drug-treatment programs in prison are not keeping pace with the need for them. Social scientists have applied cost-benefit analysis to those too. If you think such data have prompted more educational programs in prisons, think again.