The walls are bulging: prison cannot continue to be the only answer.

• Author: McComas, Suzanne
• Position: Law & Justice

CURRENTLY in the U.S., there are approximately 2,300,000 men and women behind bars. We have more people per capita in prison than any other country in the world. The corrections industry is a $50,000,000,000 cost to the taxpayers every year. Despite that huge ever-growing expense, recidivism--rate of return to prison--has stayed steady at 45% since 1999. The negative impact on the children and families of these offenders is clear to see for everyone that works within the system. Old-time guards recognize the sons and daughters of the inmates they were watching when they started their careers years ago. It is not a good dynamic. We are creating third- and fourth-generation prison populations. Something needs to change.

All of my adult life I have worked in the criminal justice system. I know there is no such thing as a victimless crime. For every action there is a reaction, and for every crime there is a consequence. I am not "soft on crime"--far from it--but I am a big advocate of fair sentencing, where the punishment fits the crime. At this point, though, I know you have to look at the gray area--it is not all black and white.

I have had many convicted criminals as clients over the course of my career. I meet most after they are incarcerated--sitting in prison trying to get their sentence reduced. I start off every conversation with them the exact same way: "I don't want to hear about how you were set up; don't tell me the cops were out to get you, the witnesses were lying, the judge was crooked; none of that. I want to hear you accept responsibility for what you did."

While this shocks most of them, the dumb ones still will want to argue and spin their story about how they should not be in jail. I do not work for those offenders. Without accountability, they need to stay right where they are. The smart ones realize the most important thing they need to do, which is to accept responsibility for their actions--recognize how many people they have hurt, including themselves, and then work hard to put into place what they need to do to keep it from happening again. For those clients, I will work tirelessly to make sure their sentencing is fair and their judgment just.

However, I also am looking at the big picture. There are generations of inmates whose fathers and mothers were in before them and whose children are next in line. I would like to see that cycle interrupted permanently. I am tired of meeting their children and wondering which ones...