As I wrote yesterday, states from California to New York are mitigating effects of the crisis by closing prisons and experimenting with alternative corrections programs. Though the principal motivation - financial - implies that this is a patchwork remedy for a temporary ill, early signs of a shifting attitude towards incarceration surfaced years before the crisis. Policies seemingly compelled by a temporary economic situation were, in fact, merely expedited, and the boost given them by fiscal necessity may be a pivotal factor in their long-term institutionalization. Michigan is one example. Its plan to close eight prisons this year continues a trend that began in 2005, with 11 prison and work-camp closings in the interim: Where did all the work-camp inmates go? They’re on parole, part of a sea change in corrections philosophy. With 21,000 parolees, a record-high number, Michigan is four years into a reform centered on community supervision rather than incarceration. The state says it’s working. Despite push-back from corrections officers, their unions, and state legislators - including a warning from a union leader that "the public better lock their doors" - the program is earning praise. It's also contributing to the right sort of police statistics; crime is down, the recidivism rate is down, and it's saving the state between $25 and $30 million a year.

Discussion of Senator Webb's proposal for prison reform in today's economic climate. Included Juvenile Justice problems and child welfare.

BREAKING NEWS of the Gitmo variety. From Reuters: Five of six Algerians must be released after nearly seven years of captivity at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a federal judge ruled on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled from the bench after holding the first hearings under a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June that gave Guantanamo prisoners the legal right to challenge their continued confinement.

Mr. Obama:.... I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm gonna make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world.

Here's a Republican "good government" agenda for you. The GOP believes in two governmental programs:1. Military Spending through endless undefined wars (privatized to the greatest extent possible)2. Prison construction and minimizing vacancies (privatized to the greatest extent possible -- often to the same companies as #1 above)Shining City on the Hill, Land of the Free, Home of the Non-competitive

Color of Change needs our help to right a long-time wrong in Louisiana. On a week when race is in the forefront of the American political dialogue, please take a moment to take action on behalf of men brutalized in Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Finally, a little relief is at hand for the vastly disparate and draconian crack cocaine sentences meted out by federal courts. New federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine offenses went into effect today. Starting today, many offenders sentenced in federal court for crack will receive a sentence about 16 months less than they would have yesterday. By way of background, through mandatory minimum sentencing laws, the Feds have punished crack crimes far

Countries, through policy choices, pretty much set their own crime and incarceration rates. Certainly, it's true, as any demographer or criminologist will tell you, that crime goes up and down in waves as the population of young males goes up and down, but with essentially the same demographics different countries will still have very different crime and incarceration rates. Why? The reason lies in a distinction the Romans were well aware of.