Sid Salter: State Should Consider Additional Corrections Reforms

SID SALTER During his two terms as governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour usually couched his public ruminations over proposals to reform Mississippi’s prison system and past “get tough on crime” mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines by observing: “Mississippi needs to decide who we’re afraid of and who we’re just mad at.” Derek Cohen, a criminologist with the conservative organization Right on Crime, honed an even sharper take on that sentiment while talking about ways to reduce the nation’s high rate of incarceration and the incredibly high costs of maintaining that many people in the nation’s prisons. Cohen said: “Prison is for people we’re scared of, not the people we’re mad at.