st importantly education. In comparison, the average yearly cost for outpatient drug programs is $2,700 to $3,600 and $17,000 to $20,000 per year for residential programs.As expensive as prison is, it can be a bargain when it comes to keeping violent criminals from preying on the innocent. But loading our prisons with non-violent offenders, often for drug violations, means that there is less room for the more dangerous repeat criminals. The end result is that we have a higher percentage of people in prisons than any other nation on earth-South Africa being a distant second. Although we have passed the dubious milestone of having more than a million Americans in prison, we feel less safe today than ever before. ...
