Amid increasing attention to crowded U.S. prisons, the Chicago-based
MacArthur Foundation is trying to shift the focus to local jails that
house many more people for much shorter periods, often in poor
conditions.
The foundation assembled criminal justice leaders from around the
U.S. in Washington, D.C., yesterday to outline a plan to spend $75
million over five years to promote reforms that could reduce jail
populations and hold down crime rates at the same time.
....
Several panelists yesterday, noting high repeat-crime rates among
released prisoners in the U.S., complained of what Kentucky state Public
Advocate Ed Monahan called a "lack of sustained leadership." Using an
analogy to auto manufacturing, Monahan said that a company producing
autos that failed at the rate that ex-prisoners do would go out of
business or change executives.
Read the complete article
