Joe Francis needs some quality time in the slammer and out of reach of innocent, teenage and college girls who just want to have fun on the beach. As the producer of the video series “Girls Gone Wild,” he is facing 22 criminal charges, including filming underage girls involved in sexual activity.

According to the Associated Press, Francis and his staff were in Panama City Beach, Fla., in February, March and April to tape a Spring Break special. He was arrested April 3 on prostitution, sexual exploitation and drug trafficking charges.

The arrests stemmed from allegations by a local teenage girl who told investigators that “Girls Gone Wild” crew members approached her and four friends and offered them money to expose themselves and perform sexual acts with each other.

“Girls Gone Wild” has been a huge money-making operation for Francis and his goons. After they’ve liquored up young college coeds partying during Spring Break or Mardi Gras, they film them doing “wild” things and then promote the videos on MTV for dirt cheap. The production company, Mantra Films Inc., is “generous enough” to supply all the alcohol.

Francis’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, says the Francis case is an example of officials trampling on freedom of expression. “The goal of ‘Girls Gone Wild’ is to capture the spontaneity of college coeds having fun on Spring Break and other times of leisure. This is the way young people have fun these days. It might be different than the way you and I used to have fun.”

There’s nothing wrong with having fun. College students want to escape school stress, hang out with friends, work on their tans and have a few drinks. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with having a few drinks — around people you trust. Spring Break is a time for fun. But that freedom is taken away when men like Joe Francis see the advantage in exploiting young women. Twenty-year-old college student Erin certainly isn’t calling her experience fun.

She appeared on the Dr. Phil show to tell her story and warn other young women. She was partying on the beach with her girlfriends when crew members from the company invited them to another party. The girls went along, but Erin had a bad feeling about these guys. She told herself she wouldn’t drink any alcohol, but since everyone else was, she did. She told herself she would not participate in an obscene contests, but since all her girlfriends were on a stage urging her on, she did. She told herself she would not pull up her shirt … oops. Then another camera crew led the girls to a hotel room and requested that they perform sexual acts with each other. Erin says she was able to pull herself together enough to refuse, and she and her friends walked out. She had hoped the experience would be forgotten and unnoticed, until her parents somehow got wind of it. Now she says she’s humiliated and trying to explain her outrageous behavior to family and friends.

We girls gotta get smarter.

I have heard other young female college students claim the same right to partying (getting drunk) as the guys they’re hanging around do, whether it’s an all night kegger on campus or Spring Break on South Padre Island. In fact, some women have expressed anger and resentment when others in authority suggest they decrease their alcohol intake while the guys continue to pound them down without concern.

Girls, here’s a news flash — we are not equal to the boys in this sense, so we would be wise not to behave as if we are.

Fact: Alcohol consumption always lowers inhibitions to the point where you would do weird, crazy, senseless things you wouldn’t dream of doing while you were sober.

Fact: Scientific research has proven the conforming effects of a group, meaning that you are more likely to behave and respond similarly with those around you when you are in a group setting than if you are alone.

Fact: Boys enjoy seeing naked or nearly-naked girls. This is when date rape happens. It’s a dangerous combination that can almost always be avoided if you don’t put yourself in that situation. Erin learned that the hard way.

Joe Francis was quoted as saying he didn’t care if local law enforcement arrested him for soliciting young women to expose themselves. What does Francis care about? Losing his millions? What if more women like Erin had the courage to come forward, own up to their mistake and warn others?

We don’t have control over the judge’s decision, but we do have control over our behavior. Let’s avoid dangling the mouse in front of the cat. Don’t make it so easy for the Joe Francises of the world to get away with this garbage.