Don't miss this New York Times editiorial on mandatory minimum sentencing and on why politicians need to keep the prisons full.

Seldom has a public policy done so much damage so quickly. But changes in the draconian sentencing laws have come very slowly. That is partly because the public thinks keeping a large chunk of the population behind bars is responsible for the reduced crime rates of recent years. Studies cast doubt on that theory, since they show drops in crime almost everywhere - even in states that did not embrace mandatory minimum sentences or mass imprisonment. In addition, these damaging policies have done nothing to curb the drug trade.

Prison should be saved for the violent offenders who pose a serious threat to others. It should not be used as a panacea for all of society's ills. The Times also takes on the booming private prison industry - and the practice of counting inmates as residents of a county for political purposes, even though they are denied the right to vote while incarcerated: