Even people charged with making laws need to be reminded, occasionally, that they must obey those laws.

That message was sent home loud and clear on Monday as U.S. Magistrate Jerry Davis slapped a $1.8 million fine on Mississippi for not complying with orders to keep state inmates out of unapproved county jails.

And through his actions Davis will either twist the arm of state corrections officials into getting all of the state inmates out of the county facilities or the state will be forced to begin potentially losing millions of dollars for simply not obeying orders.

The entire debate came about after prisoners’ rights attorney Ron Welch filed a lawsuit against the state.

Welch has single-handedly championed the effort from the start. And while many people may disagree with his hard stance on the matter, ultimately his goal should result in better conditions for prisoners.

And, perhaps more important, Monday’s decision proves that many of the pressing issues facing our corrections system must be dealt with quickly.

Experts estimate that Mississippi’s current prison population of about 19,000 will likely swell to 25,000 in the next six years.

Unless lawmakers decide to either begin pumping money — which they say the state doesn’t have — into prisons or revoke the state-mandated truth-in-sentencing law which requires a prisoner to serve 85 percent of his or her sentence, the problem isn’t going away.

Taxpayers of the state will likely feel the financial impact of the issue. Whether it’s from increased taxes to help fund construction of more prison beds or through having more criminals being released from prison early, the cost will be high.

But which road we choose to take to solve the matter is entirely up to us.