Thursday 15 May 2008
We are five percent of global population but house almost one-quarter of prisoners, but that fits our share of garbage, pollution, energy use, GDP production, etc., so hardly a shocker. Bigger problem is that we produce more ex-cons that anybody on planet, and that’s bad for business. As so many are minor drug offenders, this is wasteful and pointless. Better to medicalize the solution than stalk functional illiterates in droves and stick them in prison for several years. Thomas P.M. Barnett ☀