Richard Viguerie makes sense

Mr. Viguerie is virtually a god in the American conservative pantheon.  But he does make a lot of sense in a op-ed in today's NY Times, aptly titled "A Conservative Case for Prison Reform".  

It's hard to disagree with his premise:

But it’s not just the excessive and unwise spending that offends conservative values. Prisons, for example, are harmful to prisoners and their families. Reform is therefore also an issue of compassion. The current system often turns out prisoners who are more harmful to society than when they went in, so prison and re-entry reform are issues of public safety as well.

and his recounting of the basic prison problems: we put a lot of us in jail, we spend a lot of money on prisons, we get little return.

His solution is embodied by the Right on Crime campaign.  While this campaign is somewhat more conservative than I would like to see, it is time for us to address our prison problem, as it cannot be solved simply by building more prisons and incarcerating more people.