Let's Make Prison Work

Right now there are over two million U.S. citizens somewhere in our correctional system.  This is a profound waste of time, money, and human power.  Billions and billions of dollars are spent each year on detention center, and what is the end result?  Once released, many inmates find themselves right back in a cell a short time later.  So what can we do to fix this problem?

1)  Obviously the first step to empty out the prisons and detention centers is to stop sending people there.  How do we do this?  It is necessary to thinks of the top factors that may lead to someone being incarcerated.  Undoubtedly education level and socioeconomic status would be near the top of that list.  This may seem like a no-brainer, but Americans are terribly under-educated right now.  More focus needs to be put on good quality education by parents, the community, and the government.  Parents need to be #1 though.  Budget cuts that target education would be a terrible mistake right now; in fact education needs a raise.  Socioeconomic status may also seem obvious, but when someone has no choice but to tearn to crime in order to survive, that's what they will do.  More job opportunities need to be given to minorities, urban areas, and lower-income Americans.  And of course this goes right back to education.  On a related note: winning a war on drugs is just about as feasible as winning a war in Vietnam or Afghanistan, but the focus should always be to give Americans more reasons NOT to use drugs.
2)  People are spending too long incarcerated.  Surely those convicted of violent crimes are right where they belong, so not much can be done about that population.  However, those convicted of non-violent crimes are wasting too much of their lives and too much of our money sitting in prison.  Programs need to be set up to get these folks back out into the community much sooner.  "Good behavior," in my opinion however is not enough.  Those convicted of non-violent crimes need to be out in the communities helping to revitalize those communities.  I am talking way more than highway cleanup here.  Those convicted of non-violent crimes need to be painting buildings, cleaning graffiti, cleaning the streets - things that will make the community look good again.  This will have a two-fold effect: not only will it give the inmates a sense of purpose and community involvement, but it will help to raise land values in these areas, bring businesses back to these areas, and reduce the crime rate.  And this goes back to improving our socioeconomic status as mentioned in paragraph one.
3)  Stop sending people back to prison.  Recidivism is unusually high in this country, at that is because when someone gets out of prison, they usually don't have much choice but to go back to their former life.  While in prison, much more focus needs to be put on rehabilitation and counseling, and along with that, job skills.  I would also be very much in favor of giving tax breaks to companies who are willing to partner with the correctional system to hire these folks after they are released.  In fact, I would be in favor of companies letting the prisons know exactly what skills they require, and helping the inmates to learn these skills.  This will help ensure that they see that there is something better than a life of crime when they get back to the real world.

I believe these are just some of the steps needed to help make prisons an asset, not a burden.