Sadly, America’s first national prison commission in 30 years failed to tackle, head-on, our lock ‘em up culture and to find ways to reduce the number of people behind bars in Virginia and elsewhere.

The commission’s recent report is little more than a how-to manual to help wardens cope with overcrowded prisons that breed violence, disease and recidivism. What we really need is a road map to drastically shrink Virginia’s prison population and, at the same time, save state taxpayers a lot of money.