On The Mark: There are better ways to cut prison costs

In early August, the Minnesota Department of Corrections announced the pending closure of two of its prisons due to the state’s budget crisis. Both are among the smallest of our prisons. They are the two sites of the men’s Challenge Incarceration Program, a widely heralded and successful program enabling first-time offenders to do community service while learning new skills. Both are located in relatively small towns where their presence is welcomed, both for the services they provide to local governments and nonprofits and for the modest numbers of jobs they support: 51 in Willow River and 48...