Folsom Blues

This NPR story is a microcosm of the problems that plague the prison systems specifically and governments across the U.S. in general.

Undue influence and grandstanding pols lead to disasterous policies that lead to bloated, wasteful budgets. Like they say, read the whole thing.

Folsom was built to hold 1,800 inmates. It now houses 4,427.

It's once-vaunted education and work programs have been cut to just a few classes, with waiting lists more than 1,000 inmates long.

Officers are on furlough. Its medical facility is under federal receivership. And like every other prison in the state, 75 percent of the inmates who are released from Folsom today will be back behind bars within three years.