Our overwhelming prison population consists of many people with devastating afflictions such as alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illness. Some states, such as Washington, have mandatory minimum sentencing laws that have nonviolent people spending life behind bars for relatively minor offenses. We are spending billions of dollars building cages for these people. As “lifers,” they are warehoused with no treatment, no educational programs and no job training, thus sinking deeper into depression and hopelessness. They cannot be punished into sobriety, nor sanity, nor becoming model citizens.
Our communities will be safer only when our prisons become places of learning, where the goal is re-entry into society as law-abiding citizens, able to function appropriately and productively. People can and do change, and many deserve that opportunity. This can only be realized by humane treatment, and educational and rehabilitative programs. Any success can only be a win-win situation.
LOWANA KREWSON
Stanwood
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