It is quite the political risk, especially in his home state of Virginia, but Webb wants Congress to take a hard look at the current prison system and do the work to make some key reforms:
This spring, Webb (D-Va.) plans to introduce legislation on a long-standing passion of his: reforming the U.S. prison system. Jails teem with young black men who later struggle to rejoin society, he says. Drug addicts and the mentally ill take up cells that would be better used for violent criminals. And politicians have failed to address this costly problem for fear of being labeled “soft on crime.”
Webb’s proposed legislation will only authorize a National Panel to review the system, its operations and come up with recommendations for change. Which means we may hear the status quo if the “soft on crime” rhetoric gets is way. But it is worth noting that at least one Senator is ready to take a hard look at a prison system that is fundamentally flawed and dysfunctional. And I think that the economic downturn seems like a good (although possibly counterintuitive) time to review prison policy. States everywhere are facing multiple economic issues in regards to their prisons: Consolidating prisoners and closing one or two facilities to save money (NYS, Kansas, Washington); systems everywhere are facing increased medical costs for inmates and evaluating options to release the low-risk, sick offenders; and many states are floating trial balloons or evaluations for reviewing sentencing guidelines in an effort to leave the low risk offenders to county jail, supervised parole or drug treatment.
I’ll also note that this is a sideways route to take a look at very flawed drug policy too – since much of the dysfunction of the system is in incarcerating those with small amounts of drugs (but who otherwise aren’t a threat) and those who should be in drug treatment (as threat reduction). There’s no doubt that Webb’s effort will not put an end to the failed War on Drugs, but it certainly is a good opportunity to highlight the very high costs of its failure and perhaps get more of us to start talking about better ways to address a portion of the problems.