One of my prison correspondents, a felony inmate, writes me that the system in his state is broke.

"They try to raise prices on everything and charge us for everything. It's all nonsense though. They charge us for everything from electricity to clothes to medical. They keep taking things too. They've taken out school, programming, self help classes, cut inmate pay and jobs, etc. Still all nonsense. The problem is they lock up people that don't need to be locked up. Way too many in prison for petty offenses. They have no early releases or anything. We do 85 per cent of our time no matter how well we behave."

Well golly, you lock people up for petty offenses, try to make them pay for the electricity and clothes they need, etc. Does this seem crazy to you?
I have seen statistics that the United States locks up more of its own people than any other western nation. Is that because our population is corrupt and criminal? Or is it because as soon as we have a problem with someone our first response is to lock them up instead of solving the issue? Either way, we're paying the bill in blood.