The U.S. now has more than two million people behind bars. In Michigan, that surge is eating up scarce state funds that are needed for investment in higher education and economic development -- the essentials to rebuilding the state economy.

Yet many residents fear a reduction in prison population will put dangerous offenders on the streets. That's not necessary. Other states are finding smart policy solutions to reducing prison populations, and Michigan can learn from them.

Texas, for example, was facing millions in rising prison costs due not to rising crime, but to dysfunctional parole and probation systems, which were behind in processing the release of prisoners. By expanding those and community-based mental health services, Texas projects it will save more than a billion dollars that would have gone for new prisons.

This isn't a case of putting dollars ahead of safety. Texas and other states are showing that by investing in prison drug treatment services and after-prison strategies to help keep former addicts and mentally ill people away from crime, they're not only saving money, they're more effectively addressing common drivers of crime.

Texas mirrors Michigan's broken correction system in multiple ways. Like Texas, Michigan's exploding prison population and costs are not being driven by rising crime rates. In fact, the state's crime rate has been declining since 1981, according to a soon-to-be-released analysis conducted by the Citizens Research Council of Michigan.

Yet Michigan's incarceration rate is now 45 percent higher than the average of the other seven Great Lake states, the CRC reports.

Like Texas, Michigan prison costs continue to skyrocket due to a back-up in granting parole, as well as rising health care costs and growth in the number of people imprisoned since the 1980s.

Corrections is the largest department in Michigan government, eating up a shrinking state budget pie.And there's no end in sight. The CRC projects corrections costs will continue to grow for the next five years, at an annual cost of more than $31,000 per prisoner.

Despite mounting expenditures, recidivism rates remain high, signaling the failure of the prison system to reform inmates. The fastest growing category of admissions to prison are convicts already under some form of post-prison supervision -- many of whom were recently released from jail or prison, according to a recent study by the Council of State Governments.

Michigan politicians have backed themselves into a corner. By seeking to look tough on crime to the public, they've created a dysfunctional corrections system that is hurting the state more than it is protecting it.

Governor Jennifer Granholm and the Legislature should make corrections reform a top priority. They also need to lean on Michigan's congressional delegation to support the federal Second Chance Act, which would provide grants to states and communities that are developing programs to help inmates return to their former homes.

The state needs to implement corrections reform, with or without federal help. But the Second Chance Act would certainly help the state, providing a needed boost for prison reform.