Prisons are a means of punishment period. I think often the inmate gets better healthcare than the average working Joe. Lord knows they're well fed. Maybe its time we spend a little less on lawbreakers, and worry about taking care of the neediest citizens.

AS a former DOC employee, I believe it is a shame that the Appleton facility sits idle, and only because they built it without the blessing of the DOC. The area is punished for that reason (and this is a fact). With populations going up, might as well use it rather than have it deteriate. It is not that old of facility and I have toured it several times. Opening it up would help that area with jobs.

For those who wish to understand the history of prisons read Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault. I wouldn't treat a dog like we treat prisoners. If you read that book you'll understand what a panopticon we have built around us already. Prisons create many more social problems than they solve...they will never solve crime since they ignore the cause of crime. Also if they worked we would have no crime. Prisons bully, coherse, intimidate, torture and seek revenge for "crimes" like smoking a weed. Finally, read Consiliance by E.O. Wilson for the genes-eye-view of genetics, criminal behavior and society. The causes of crime are never what you think they are and the solution, since we have mountains of crime, is greater understanding of ALL the underlying forces at work. Do you really know what a law is and WHO BENEFITS from them??? And this: guilt assumes sin, what if there's no god and therefore never has there been, a sin. Simply, laws and the consequences are bullying without oversight or much reason besides someone is making huge, huge money off it. I leave you with this: in England until 1860, children were regularly executed FOR THEFT.

Actually we are in a prison population crisis when we're sending prison inmates to county jails because their prison is overcrowded. Don't try and tell me otherwise. Maybe we should reserve prison for serious criminals, not the 55% who are in there for drug related charges.

18% are in for drug offenses, not 55%

If we took out the mentally ill, drug abusers and non violent crimes inmates out of the prison system we would be left with the people who belong in prison. These type of individuals can be managed in structured living environments and long term treatment centers until ready for release back into society under monitoring.

We absolutely have a prison population problem,there are not nearly enough criminals in prison. That is the problem. "Minnesota is way out in front on sentencing". I have rarely read anything so full of BS. Horribly violent repeat offenders run rampant in Minnesota. The sentencing is a joke and by state law criminals only complete 2/3 of their sentence. After you consider the fact that the state rolled over and plead out the case down to a much lower crime you have a laughable system at best. This guy is a clown.

It is worth noting that the United States has the highest prison population rate in the world. In the US, 756 out of every 100,000 people are incarcerated.

Ok, for those who think we're in a crisis because offenders are being housed in county jails, consider this: Many county jails are well below capacity in terms of offender population. The State is actually doing something sensible by sending offenders to facilities that have bedspace available, rather than build another prison. You can't lock everybody up, although the State of Minnesota is going to try.