Maybe look at the European model as they have a bit more experience than us. Make the prisons bad places to be and then they will not return instead of making them better places to live than they had outside. Thanks ACLU.

Re: SteveA: Don't feed the TROLL.

I think you are right - the it does take a former Marine to tackle this issue without being labeled a wussy, pot-smoking hippie, bleeding-heart liberal.

Go Webb.

It would be great to see Webb also raise the issue of prison rape - one of the biggest obscenities of our society. The only thing more obscene than the tens of thousands of rapes annually in our prisons is the fact that it is still socially acceptable to laugh at this - see Leno, Jay. It would be awesome to see liberal bloggers putting some much-needed pressure on Obama to start taking steps to cut out this massive blight on our claim to be a civilized society.

I'm with you Steve A. Lets do it like the Europeans, who incarcerate a much much smaller percentage and yet have a lower crime rate, especially a lower violent crime rate. That's what you meant wasn't it?

That is what I meant. Rehabilitate those that are not true criminals and also eliminate the death penalty because if a prison is truly a "prison", there is no need for it.

Speaking as a former corrections officer, THANK YOU, JIM WEBB. Finally someone wants to deal with this disaster.

There are huge numbers of areas to deal with. If anyone is interested, I would be willing to post my list here in another post.

A high-level federal panel on this subject is a good idea and long overdue. However, we should bear in mind that the great majority of prisoners in the United States are held in state prisons and local jails, not in the federal system, and that the kind of prisoners in the former are often different than the kind in the latter (for example, state prisons often hold a higher proportion of violent offenders; more drug dealers tend to end up in federal prison). Sen. Webb will be aware of this, and the comment is not meant as criticism of his initiative.

Oh, but prisons are now corporate run businesses with prisoners being the raw material, the government and taxpayers building the physical structures, which when remotely located become 'company towns', and where the only jobs around are 'prison guards'. Overcrowded jails send their raw material to other locations that have empty beds, at a high per diem. Take 'profit' out of this system right away. Release non-violent offenders.

As for the "soft" label:

Republicans are "soft" on budget discipline when they want to spend money imprisoning harmless, if annoying, potheads.

They are "soft" on freedom when they decide smoking weed is a jail worthy crime rather than yet another stupid waste of money like alcohol.

They are "soft" on economic growth when you take taxpayers and make them taxmoney sinks by not only removing their tax contributions by taking their jobs away but hire a few babysitters to watch them for 5-20 years.

They are "soft" on crime when police are given credit for cracking down on victimless vice crimes instead of freeing up their time for crimes that actually affect the smooth functioning of society.

This may not be the right time to eliminate prison jobs. We should wait until the economy improves. . . Oh, wait - I forgot about all the Wall Street guys that will be doing time. . .

US policy criminalizes poverty and mental illness, and over one half of ALL inpatient psychiatric care is delivered in prisons. That permanently ostracizes and stigmatizes people with neurophysiological illnesses. Prisons are a booming industry and are one of the very few "growth" industries in the US.

http://www.physorg.com/news149769761.html

We don't need prison reform, we need to eliminate sixty years of prison reform. The countries with much lower recividision (sp) rates then ours use a very effective model...

... the U.S. Prison system of the 1950s.

Let's go back to what works.

I applaud Senator Webb, but I'll tell you who has real political courage. The first national level politico to stand up and admit that the war on drugs does not, has not and never will work.

Jim Webb is about the only politician in Washington I have any respect for, and the only one with any real intelligence. For ex., instead of just swallowing free trade ideology like the dim witted economists and the Econ 101 crowd, he actually has gone out and studied the issue, finding out how other nations tackle the inherent problems.

This may sound trollish but I'm genuinely curious.

So America has a higher percentage of prisoners than any other nation. But how many of those other nations (if any) have a higher percentage of prisoners killed for crimes for which the American justice system does not command the death penalty?

Again, I Admit I'm coming from a place of ignorance, and I'm wondering what the answer is. It's not meant to imply that American prisons are trouble-free or that Webb's goal is not honorable.

I believe that there are more death penalty cases in the U.S. than in any other developed "western" country. The death penalty is allowed for only a couple of offenses here, and is not used except in countries ruled by despots or communists.