A criminal justice reform that would cut back on the prison population, improve rehabilitation and save taxpayers a bundle of money sounds almost too good to be true.

Yet, according to South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, it is very possible -- and he may well be right.

He is pushing the state for a change in how nonviolent criminals are dealt with that has proved successful in many jurisdictions. It involves establishing an alternate or "middle court" system that, instead of incarcerating nonviolent criminals, would sentence them to undergo a combination of counseling, drug treatment, education, work and restitution -- depending on the particular nonviolent crime or crimes they were convicted of.

The separate court system would replace the highly varied mix of drug courts around the state and be presided over by volunteer judges. Overcrowded prisons are clogged with people convicted of nonviolent crimes such as drug possession or gambling, says McMaster, and many of them emerge from the experience as hardened criminals when what they really needed was rehabilitation and a shot at a second chance.

The first middle court was launched in Miami in 1989, and more than 2,000 have since grown around the nation. If lawmakers approve McMaster's proposal, it would make South Carolina one of the first states to expand the concept statewide.

Several state and national studies show that alternative courts reduce the chance that offenders will re-offend, demonstrating they are much more successful at rehabilitation than regular prisons.

Alternative courts also save taxpayers millions of dollars in prison costs. It is much less expensive to deal with offenders out of prison than to pay for their room, board and health care in prison.

The state corrections department reports that nearly 50 percent of South Carolina's estimated 24,000 inmates are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses, even though many have no prior convictions for violent crimes. These are ideal candidates for middle-court sentencing.

Keeping them out of prison and putting them in workable rehab programs would also increase public security by making more prison space available for violent criminals. This also would likely eliminate early release programs brought on by prison overcrowding.

To be eligible under McMaster's proposal, convicted nonviolent offenders could only get into the program after the victim or prosecutor, with the consent of the judge, agreed to it.

State Prisons Director Jon Ozmint, noting the prison population is growing by 300 to 400 inmates a year while the prisons already are more than 1,600 inmates over capacity, is understandably enthusiastic about McMaster's plan.

We think state lawmakers should be enthusiastic too. The proposal holds great promise for improvements at every level of the state's criminal justice system. It would also, according to criminal sentencing and court experts, put South Carolina on the cutting edge of judicial justice reform. It's win-win all the way.