Our discussion over the Crack epidemic in the 1980s made me think about the whole issue of imprisoning those who have committed nonviolent drug offenses.  Of course, we know that someone is much more likely to become homeless when the get out of prison (much thanks to our so called “correctional” facilities).  I read that almost 2 million people are currently imprisoned for nonviolent drug offenses.  This is where a large problem exists within our correctional system.  We treat everyone who has committed a crime, no matter what that may be, as if they need to be banned from society and punished, rather than rehabilitated.

From a liberal mindset, one might say that to address this issue, we should simply reduce the sentencing for these crimes, or even make drug use legal.  It would reduce prison populations, and possibly help control drug cartels.  However, what might be the ramifications for this?  Would drug use increase if we reduced fines and sentencing?  Do we have any country that we can use as a model?  Would this model be relative to our society?  In other words, could we say that if a smaller, less developed country legalized drugs and benefited from it, could we rightfully assume that it would help us?  I think its important to look at the other side of the spectrum when discussing issues such as this.

Also, I hope that we can also discuss the way prisons operate and are organized.  I read that the cost to house a prisoner is something like $30,000 a year.  Also, how are prisons “privatized?”  and how does that influence the homeless population?