Thirty years ago, private prisons were nearly nonexistent. Today, the population incarcerated in fully privatized prisons has soared. States and the federal government increasingly look to private companies to manage their prison populations as a way to cut costs.

Columnist Neal Pearce argues that the nation has too long focused almost exclusively on punishment and retribution and that the custom of pardons, most recently used by former Gov. Haley Barbour who pardoned more than 200 offenders, should be revitalized by governors and President Obama.

Kentucky: Challenging state’s disenfranchisement laws

New York: Legislative maps redrawn to account for prison population

National: Santorum and Romney debate felony disenfranchisement

National: CNN opens up discussion of felony disenfranchisement

National: Washington Post Commentary supporting voting rights

National: Prison ministry leader supports Democracy Restoration Act

International: Lessons from Ireland’s first election with enfranchised prisoners

Prisoners will be counted in their hometowns rather than where they're incarcerated but neither those imprisoned in state facilities nor parolees can vote in New York.

At Monday's Republican debate in South Carolina, presidential candidates sparred over whether people with felony convictions should be allowed to vote, with front runner, Mitt Romney, saying, "I think who committed violent crimes should not be allowed to vote again."

Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, is interviewed about the “three strikes” legislation passed by the Massachusett’s legislature and aimed at keeping habitual offenders incarcerated longer. The bill is now making its way to Governor Deval Patrick’s desk for approval.

Private prisons held over 128,000 prisoners in 2010, representing an 80 percent increase since 1999. This growth has been built on the claim that private prisons can operate at a lower cost than publicly operated facilities, while still providing the same levels of service. Private prison companies have failed to fulfill this promise, according to the new report, Too Good to be True: Private Prisons in America.

National: Civil rights report details “historic” assault on voting rights

National: Senate bill introduced to restore federal voting rights

Florida: Florida under scrutiny for voting laws

California: San Francisco’s highest voter turnout comes from County Jail

Critics have set their sights on Virginia, where lawyers and inmates say some of the state’s 40,000 prisoners, including some with mental-health issues, have been kept in isolation for years, in one case for 14 years.