Jail: Look for other alternatives

An Associated Press front-page story in the Bangor Daily News on Friday offered a startling statistic - one we had also heard on television in the past few days: More than one of every 99.1 adults in this country is in jail, giving us the embarrassing title as being the world's Number One incarcerator. The report's conclusion: Stop incarcerating low-risk offenders. A letter to the editor elsewhere in this issue makes the same suggestion.

It makes absolutely no sense for taxpayers to foot the bill for many of today's prisoners, who broke the rules but pose no threat to any of us. All would agree those who break the law should be punished, but jail time is very often not the logical answer.

Take driving under the influence charges, for instance. Depending upon the severity, or number of times, jail is often recommended. What these people need is good programs which will help them recover if they have a serious drinking problem, or, if not, convince them they can't get behind the wheel when they've been drinking. The same is true for drugs just as it does for alcohol. Get them help, don't put them behind bars! Putting someone in jail doesn't cure their problem, and the chances are good they'll just be back.

Costs to the taxpayer are apparent without even leaving Lincoln County. We've just built a very e x pensive new jail that we'll still be paying for years from now. That's before you get into the cost of running it.

Some of the statistics in the AP story send a real message - or should. In Kentucky, for instance, the crime rate is up 3 percent over the past 30 years, while the inmate population there has increased 600 percent. In four states, including nearby Connecticut and Vermont, as well as Michigan and Oregon, more is being spent on corrections than on higher education. What's wrong with this picture?

We've always felt that community service for low-threat offenders made a whole lot more sense than paying to feed and house them in jail. We also think that handing a juvenile a fine for an infraction isn't always the best answer; make them perform some public service. It will eat into their social life, and also be more embarrassing. In many instances, juveniles often don't pay the fines themselves, anyway; their parents do.

In coming years, we predict that more and more attention will be focused on alternate sentencing, because our corrections costs are going to keep going up, and at some point in time, the taxpayer is going to cry bloody murder and demand we find other ways to deal with law-breakers.