Jackson Free Press

A popularly cited statistic involves private corrections companies pouring over third-grade reading scores in a given jurisdiction to project how many prison beds will be needed in a decade, when those illiterate third graders go off track and run afoul of the law. The nation's largest private-prison operators have roundly denied the claim as false, an urban legend that won't go away. Like all urban legends, the statement's resiliency lies in the suspicion that some part of it might be true.

Even around here, we've heard elected and law-enforcement officials warn citizens that the little tyke you see scooting along the street today might very well be the young thug who tries to carjack you in 10 years. The sentiment is well-meaning, though misplaced: Start showing kids you care early in their lives, and maybe they won't rob you when they get big.

Some of that thinking drove the passage of Gov. Phil Bryant's Literacy-Based Promotion Act, which requires kids to show a mastery of basic reading skills before going on to next grade. In Bryant's mind, socially promoted young people might find themselves struggling in later grades, drop out of school and turn to a life of crime. Of course, the social stigma of holding kids back might also turn them off school and put them on the same bad track.

In either case, what's true is that investing in children while they're young and at their most eager is vitally important.

After another scathing report about the condition and operation of the Hinds County jail, county supervisors are again wringing their hands about where to find the money to build a brand new facility. Maybe the county needs a jail, and maybe it doesn't. But it would be futile to spend, by some estimates, upwards of $50 million on a facility to warehouse people awaiting trial without seriously rethinking our approach to imprisonment.

First, we should have a serious discussion about how to keep kids out of jail to begin with, which includes rethinking policing and school-discipline policies that criminalize normal youth behavior. It also includes adequate funding of public schools, as well as Bryant's own third-grade gate testing, on which the Legislature balked when it came to funding. After all, even our conservative tea-party governor believes education is important to curbing crime, so this approach should draw bipartisan support.

We also need to start talking about what happens in the jails themselves. Iron bars and more guards might help some sleep better at night, but in Mississippi and many other states, funding has all but vanished for educational and workforce training programs in correctional facilities. If jail is not to be the "college of criminality," any talk of putting money into jails needs to include educational programming aimed at lowering recidivism.

If we don't rethink these things, then we can't honestly profess to care about our children or our community.