Fight on, Senator

Here's a good Fort Worth Startlegram staff editorial extolling Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire's efforts to shake up the prison system. The Star Telegram's editorial board was especially (and justly) congratulatory regarding Sen. Whitmire's insistence on better management practices by the Department of Criminal Justice before approving more prisons.

I was particularly pleased to see the newspaper disassociating support for more prison building with being "tough on crime." The item concluded:

Despite having spent more than $2.3 billion on new prison beds in recent years, some in the Legislature and among their leadership still want to act like they are being tough on crime by building still more prisons and locking up more people.

At least in the case of nonviolent offenders, there are better, smarter, less costly ways to mete out justice and keep our streets safe. Whitmire is pushing those ways. He's right, and he's exactly the right person to be leading this effort.

Fight on, senator.