It would be interesting to see what charges are pending for those actually behind bars at this time. Sadly, we have locked up so many Okies for drug offenses that we have little room for the violent offenders. I hate drugs and everything they do to people and families, but I'm not seeing where locking people away is solving the problem. The drug court seems a lot more effective, but only when it's a long-term program. Considering that once a person goes away on a felony rap, their chance of landing on their feet afterwards is slim to none. What HR manager wants to take responsibility for recommending a felon as a new hire? I must admit that I wouldn't.

I've seen where people call for private prisons to solve these problems, but frankly, I think privatized prisons are a very bad idea. Let's face it: a privatized prison has no incentive to reduce recidivism, because a revolving-door inmate is very profitable, moral issues aside.

The question is: how many of the people sitting in the jail are flight risks? Are we that much more secure spending our tax dollars to lock up folks who couldn't afford a bondsman's fee?