The LA Times and the Sacramento Bee both have editorials on an inspector general's report that a gigabuck of spending on prison drug abuse programs has produced zero results.

We often hear arguments to the effect that "prevention" is preferable to incarceration, or in this case reincarceration when released inmates reoffend. These arguments often blithely assume that prevention is a simple matter, we know what to do, and we simply need to do it. Well, it's not that simple. Before we dump vast resources into a program touted as prevention or rehabilitation, we need solid evidence that it is an effective program and that it will be done right.

One of the things California prisons need before anything else is adequate space, yet the same people who squawk loudest about the need for programs adamantly oppose the needed expansion. Some downward revisions to sentencing may be in the cards, but there is no way that laxer sentencing will get California's prison population down to design capacity without major damage to public safety. New construction must be part of the deal.