Moderator Tim Golden and panelists Susan Burton, Jeanne Woodford, Prophet Walker, and Keramet Reitter. (Aaron Salcido/AaronSalcido.com)

It's a question most people don't want to think about: How can the United States reduce its prison population? But with the number of inmates on the rise nationally for the first time since 2009, it's a question that can't be avoided much longer.

Increasing education, preparing for re-entry, and a more individualistic approach to sentencing are all ways society can reduce and rehabilitate the prison population, said a Zócalo/California Endowment panel on Tuesday night.

The discussion on the future of America's justice system could not have been better timed. 

READ MORE: L.A. Youth Groups Condemn California's 'Incarceration Problem'

Managing editor Tim Golden moderated the panel, which included former inmates who have worked to reshape their lives, a former corrections official, and a professor who studies the effects of being incarcerated. 

How We’re Failing Prisoners

Smoothing out the process of re-entry is a key tactic in reducing recidivism, aka repeat offenses, panelists said. Having basic documentation like a social security card and ID makes a big difference outside of prison, but facilities usually release inmates with $200 and little-to-nothing else. 

Panelist Jeanne Woodford, former director of the California Department of Corrections, recalled seeing a man one night wearing the standard release clothes for San Quentin Prison.

“He looked left, and then he looked right, as if he were trying to figure out which way to go…the truth was, no matter which way he went, there was nothing there for him,” Woodford said, referring to the practice of releasing inmates in the middle of the night, when no services are available. “The devil truly is in the details,” he said.

READ MORE: Prison Labor: Exploitation Or Rehabilitation?

Panelist Susan Burton was all too familiar with that lack of resources. She spent time in and out of prison herself before she founded A New Way of Life, which gives women leaving prison a place to stay and job skills.

It wasn't until the Q&A portion at the end, when someone asked a question about the link between poverty and prison, that Burton addressed the elephant in the room. 

"You know, we haven't touched on race in this whole conversation," said Burton to a burst of applause from the audience. "We haven't touched on the 13th amendment where slavery is still okay when you're in prison, and that really needs to be in the heart of this conversation.”

Shifting Mindsets

Moving away from the “tough on crime” mentality prevalent in the '80s and '90s, today’s politicians are realizing that it is more cost-effective to prevent crime than punish it. 

Burton said to do the math.

“Spend a dime now, or a dollar later?” she asked. 

The logic sounds simple, but not everyone likes what it can mean in reality. Fellow panelist and U.C. Irvine criminologist Keramit Reitter has taught for years in prison education programs. 

According to her, many people don't think it is fair to offer education and job resources to law-breakers. But she stressed that it costs taxpayers a lot less to educate these people in college classrooms than to take care of them in a prison. 

"If we’re not educating those people in prison, even if we think they might be less-deserving than the college student in my classroom, we’re actually in the long-term hurting my [college] students because we’re taking [budget] resources away from them,” Reitter said. 

Prophet Walker may have been a teen felon, but he also hopes to be elected to the State Assembly in November. (Aaron Salcido / AaronSalcido.com)

There is perhaps no better example of someone changing his story than panelist Prophet Walker, who as a young man was sentenced to six years in prison for great bodily injury and robbery.

While he was in prison, Walker proposed the Youthful Offender Pilot Program, allowing him and other juvenile offenders to get an education while carrying out their sentences in lower-security facilities. 

“When I was 16, I committed a crime but I was not a criminal, and I think that’s a conversation we need to have,” said Walker, who is now running for California State Assembly in District 64. 

READ MORE: California Prison Reform: Assessing Realignment

Reitter discussed the need for greater transparency and more data on realignment. The men and women on realignment or parole who commit crimes are a lot more memorable than the thousands of cases where realignment is successful, which is why Reitter said data is necessary to “counter that narrative.”  

Watch the full panel discussion at Zócalo Public Square.

Reach Web Producer Sophia Li here. Follow her on Twitter here.