All right, I don't mean to be a dick about this, but Maine is smarter than your state when it comes to prison.

Definitely smarter than my state, and I like my state. I'm not saying that to be mean.

But you and me, we're wasting our money every year, and we are none the safer for it, worse, actually.

Today's episode is not going to talk about why Maine has a better system than the rest of the country when it comes to prison.

It's going to show you because I went there and I spent a day in prison.

I'm going to take you with me so you can find out why their focus on rehabilitation

instead of punishment ends up being cheaper and safer

for us taxpayers.

And why you should call up your state legislator

and tell them to visit Maine,

not for crabs or foliage, but for prisons.

It's prison week right here on the political orphanage.

I hear that train are coming.

It's rolling round the bend.

I ain't seen sunshine since I don't know when I'm stuck.

Hello and welcome to the political orphanage, a home for plucky misfits and problem solvers.

I'm your host, Andrew Heaton.

Yesterday here on the show, we did a broad introduction to prison.

I went through intake.

I chatted with residents and corrections officers,

ate lunch, checked out the bunk situation. That was a broad overview, a kind of getting to know you,

let's absorb the flavor of prison. But today, we are going to zoom in on a particular element

...