The Washington Post recently reported the Justice Department’s early release of about 6,000 federal prisoners from Oct. 30-Nov. 2nd, 2015 — representing the largest one-time release of federal prisoners. The move was aimed at easing overcrowding in federal prisons and at providing relief to those who had received draconian sentences due to the War on Drugs. Most of the returning former prisoners will go to halfway houses or to house arrest before being released on parole.

The en masse release of these federal prisoners has caught the attention of the public. But that is neither the real problem nor the solution to the pressing issue of mass incarceration. In fact, many more prisoners are released every year. Each year over 630,000 individuals will return from prison and other correctional institutions. About 93 percent of the people in prison will eventually come home. And many prisoners, about 40 percent, are released within 12 months on incarceration.