Mandatory minimums thus do not inhibit the operations of the drug trade; but they ensure that lots of nonviolent, low-level drug offenders sit in prison for a long time. Jn 1990, almost 90 of first-time drug offenders in federal courts went to prison, with an average sentence of more than five years. First-time violent offenders went to jail less often and for shorter periods. No wonder the proportion of drug prisoners in federal prisons keeps on rising.
Much of this rampant incarceration is pointless. Drug users do not need to spend five years in jail to know they. have offended: Like most petty criminals, most grow out of their bad habits quickly enough. Besides, most give up crime, and hardly anyone starts, affer the age of 30. But mandatory sentences mean that more minor villains will stay in prison well past their criminal prime. Spending $40,000 to $50,000 a year for each increasingly creaky inmate is a waste of money that could be better spent on deterring the dangerous young.