To those who say prison should punish, not rehabilitate — it’s gonna cost you: A recent study reveals 42 percent of ex-prisoners in Kentucky eventually return to the clink, compared with the national average of 34 percent. It’s a bleak statistic that’s at least partly to blame for the fact that the state’s prison population has increased by 42 percent since 2000, with more than 21,000 criminals now incarcerated. It will cost $451 million to house prisoners this year, compared with $294 million nine years ago.

After receiving reports that an 89-year-old woman had not been seen for months, police responded to the west Louisville home she shared with her son last week. Julius Harris allegedly answered the door holding a gun, and a nine-hour standoff ensued. After talking Harris out of the house, officers found the missing elderly woman’s badly decomposed body; her son is charged with abuse of a corpse and theft for allegedly cashing checks made out to his dead mother. (Theft? Norman Bates would be appalled.)

A Louisville man with an IQ of 61 is on trial for murder in Jefferson County and facing the death penalty, despite a law that prohibits the execution of mentally retarded individuals. The law indicates anyone with an IQ below 70 cannot be executed, but Judge Martin McDonald is letting the capital trial of 41-year-old Donald Giles go forward because the accused murderer — also a paranoid schizophrenic — did not undergo IQ testing as a child.

Although the air we breathe has improved in recent years, the Louisville region still isn’t up to par as far as those pesky feds are concerned. As a result, Mayor Jerry Abramson is considering the possibility of restricting idling automobiles to reduce emissions. More than 100 other local governments across the United States have enacted rules limiting how long motorists can let their gas-guzzlers idle. The administration hopes to present a draft ordinance next month.