Impact of Politics on Prisons: Ross Douthat's op-ed in The New York Times takes a stance on how previous and current political figures have effected the prison system.  In the 1960s and 1970s there was a crime wave that lasted until the early 1990s.  Douthat argues that the reason for the surge was a mixture of demographics bulge created by the baby boomers, the crisis of authority in the 60s, and a large drug problem.  The liberal strategy of focusing more on rehabilitation than deterrence only enhanced the problem.  Since then, conservatives have been leaders in prison policy making.  They have instituted harsher penalties and more prisons.  The conservative approach has worked, the violent crime rate has been cut by 40% since it's peak.  Douthat says that the cost of success has been significant.  Prison overcrowding and high costs have led some to look to their leaders for change.  He argues that with politicians more worried about whether their stand on crime will harm their political career, change will be slow.

The Failure of the NY Juvenile Prison System: New York Times writer Nicholas Confessore reports on a report prepared by a task force appointed by Governor David Paterson that found New York's juvenile prison system to be broken.  New York's youth prisons are so defective that the state agency overseeing them have asked family court judges not to send youth there unless they are a significant risk to public safety.  A confidential draft report stated, "New York State's current approach fails the young people who are drawn into the system, the public whose safety it is intended to protect, and the principles of good governance that demand effective use of scarce state resources."  The state spends around $210,000 per youth annually to run the system.  The report recommends that there should be smaller facilities because it would put less strain on workers, help reduce the use of physical force and better facilitate rehabilitation.  Peter E. Kauffmann, a spokesman for Gov. Patterson said that the governor "looks forward to receiving the recommendations of the task force as we continue our efforts to transform the state's juvenile justice system from a correctional-punitive model to a therapeutic model."

1970s Law and Time Credits Free Two North Carolina Inmates:  Associated press writer Mike Baker reports that Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand has ordered the release of two convicts because of time credits and a 1970s law that limited a life term to 80 years.  Alford Jones, 55, and Faye Brown, 56, successfully argued that their times credits cut years off their life terms, and they should be released.  State attorneys argued that the credits awarded to Jones and Brown were suppose to be used for parole eligibility and other matters, and not given to reduce sentence for lifers.  But Judge Rand disagreed, saying that the inmates were allowed to receive credits which should be applied to the 80 term limit.  It is unclear how this ruling will affect approximately two dozen other inmates in a similar situation.