Maryland's Republican Governor, Robert L. Erlich, Jr. is putting into action his long-held vision of putting rehabilitation over punishment.

The major part of Mr. Ehrlich's plan is allocating $2 million to hire 210 staffers to rehabilitate prisoners before their release. "It is giving people who are coming back to the community a choice not to re-offend." he said. "Basically, they [will] have a choice now."

Erlich is not alone. 25 states have replaced mandatory minimum sentences with programs that substitute treatment, rehabilitation or early-release over long prison sentences.

Kansas is one of these states:

Kansas legislators, for example, needed to build $15 million worth of prisons but instead passed a law that sends some nonviolent drug offenders to treatment instead of jail. John Vratil, a Republican and chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, said the change could reduce Kansas' prison population by about 15 percent.

Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Washington also have passed similar legislation for first-time or nonviolent criminals.

Who's driving the shift away from long sentences? Believe it or not, it's the Republicans.

The shift away from "get tough" sentencing has been led mostly by Republican lawmakers who are faced with a state budget crisis and are unwilling to increase taxes to build more prisons.

We hope the Democratic congressional and presidential candidates across the country take notice and add this to their platforms.