Federal prison population is expanding at a rate that is simply unsustainable. In the past 30 years, it has soared by more than 700 percent. We now spend-and this is just on federal prisons, not State prisons, approximately $6.4 billion a year on federal prisons; that is about a quarter of the Department of Justice's budget. This spending means fewer federal prosecutors and FBI agents, less funding for investigations, less support for State and local law enforcement, and fewer resources for crime prevention programs or victim services or reentry programs. The skyrocketing costs might be acceptable if mass incarceration improved public safety. But we know it does not. While Congress has continued to pass legislation mandating ever longer sentences, the States have focused on successful alternatives. New York, South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Michigan have undertaken reforms like reducing sentences, repealing mandatory minimums, investing in recidivism reduction, and they have saved taxpayer dollars-all while crime rates have decreased.
