Two competing measures on the ballot this fall would cause more criminals to be sent to prison. Both should be rejected because of the projected costs.

State officials say Measure 61 would require the state to borrow up to $1.3 billion between 2010 and 2017 to build new prisons. The legislature offered an alternative that is less expensive by being not quite so Draconian in its requirement for imprisonment.

No matter how much we dislike thieves, burglars and meth criminals, prison is too expensive a solution. In fact it’s no solution at all if it does not deter crime in the first place. And if thousands more people get sent to prison, thousands more in the end will come out as better-trained criminals.

What we need is a punishment that actually acts as a deterrent and doesn’t cost much, such as the lash, but for that we’re about 150 years too late. The Navy abandoned flogging in the middle of the 1800s.

What we need is a revived standard of conduct so that no person would even think of breaking and entering. That may be naive and utopian. But sending more and more people to prison is very expensive in addition to being ineffective and just as naive. (hh)