Kansas has a problem. It's running out of prison beds to house male inmates:

No more. Kansas is officially out of beds for male prisoners, with a population last week of 8,411 — above the system’s capacity of 8,259. In 10 years, the state is projected to be nearly 2,000 beds short.

So Kansas corrections leaders have started talking seriously about two options: Either find millions of dollars to house more prisoners — at a time when the state is struggling to pay for schools and social services — or start letting them go.

One possibility: Follow the lead of Mississippi and grant earlier parole to non-violent offenders. Mississippi now offers parole after serving 25% of a non-violent sentence. This option might have public support:

In a project poll, 91 percent agreed with this statement: “It does not matter whether a nonviolent offender is in prison for 21 or 24 or 27 months. What really matters is the system does a better job of making sure that when an offender does get out, he is less likely to commit another crime.”

Missouri also has advocated less prison time. The Chair of the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission notes:

“People who go to prison learn things in prison,” he said. “It’s time to talk rationally about how much punishment we can afford.”

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