Dave mentioned earlier today, that NY Governor David Patterson is headed the wrong way on their budget, further playing into the cyclical economy. One of the important cuts that we should perhaps take as a lesson is the cut of about 1,300 prison guards and close several prisons. NPR has a story about the impact and causes of those layoffs, and it’s worth the 2 minutes of your time to check it out.

You see, New York’s prisons are under utilized. You read that right, while California struggles with ridiculous parole policies that lead to increased recidivism, New York is clearing their prisons out and shutting them down. During the 90s, the crime rate decreased quite rapidly across the nation, California included. New York chose not to put more people in prison for parole violations to keep them stocked, but rather to work to release prisoners who didn’t warrant being in the clink.

Perhaps if we stopped trying to look tough, and started trying to actually prevent crime, we too could save a billion or so on prisons this year.  Just a thought…