Excellent piece, Charles -- we could do with one big prison for Putin and his capos -- one day, maybe! I agree, America incarcerates way too many [all poor of course, and largely black]. Perhaps to compete with the Chinese, people could be assigned work that would admittingly be very cheap -- but better than the clink -- this would kill several birds with one stone! -- Getting sixteen years for 140gms of anything is preposterous! -- That said, being tough on crime is so political- how do you fix it so easily!?