To the editor:

Faced with the reality that the 5-year-old, $22 million Douglas County Jail is already overcrowded, Maj. Ken McGovern states, “Is it ever going to slow down? That’s the million-dollar question.” (Journal-World, June 26). I’d like to offer an answer to McGovern’s question for free: No, it is not going to slow down and any talk of expanding the jail will only produce the same results.

A cursory glance at the history of prisons in the U.S. reveals a simple principle I call, “if you build it, you will fill it.” Once space is made available, it seems that various “gate-keepers” in the criminal justice system go about making sure that those beds get filled, arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating people who would have otherwise been treated alternatively or turned away.

When the jail was first built, local officials were worried that they didn’t have ENOUGH inmates to justify the expensive venture. Despite this, former Sheriff Loren Anderson told us that he would open the jail with a full staff of 69 officers, 35 of whom would be new hires (Journal-World, Oct. 25, 1998). Anderson knew quite well that once local judges knew about the additional space, they’d be sending him all the bodies he could handle. It seems he was right.

Currently more than 3.1 percent of all U.S. citizens or 1 in every 32 adults are on probation, in jail or prison or on parole. Isn’t it nice to know we’re doing our fair share to keep the prison industry growing?

Bill Staples,

Lawrence