The Costly U. S. Prison System

          The prison system in the U.S. is in crisis.  We have far too many prisoners and spend far too much on housing them and building more prisons. We have far too harsh penalties for less serious nonviolent crimes, so we are unnecessarily incarcerating people who could be productive citizens, and destroying families in the process. In THE COSTLY U.S. PRISON SYSTEM: TOO COSTLY IN TERMS OF DOLLARS, NATIONAL PRESTIGE AND LIVES, author Paul Brak