LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: BRING COMMON SENSE TO PRISONS

To the Editor:

Having read the column by Jack Stapleton, "The cost of prison neglect," I noticed that he has recognized a problem that every body seems to be aware of, but likewise, was short at offering a solution. I, too, am disappointed in our governments ability to protect the average citizen. It appears to me as always, our governments have a deficiency in what this country was built on: COMMON SENSE AND SIMPLE COMMUNICATION.

The criminals of today are sent to their room like a child to watch TV, read, talk to their neighbor or whatever they wish to do. What a deal! They don't have to get up and go to work, worry about where their next meal is coming from, how to pay the bills and, yes, even receive a supply of drugs if desired. If they're sick, they even have free medical care while victims often suffer devastation.

Now the unanswered question is how the Government can continue supporting the American dream for these derelicts of society. Let's apply a little common sense to the problem of funding this great venture.

First of all we place a prisoner in a cell, no TV, socializing with other people including family, to think about the crime he committed, and if he would like to work to pay his debt to society.

Next we build manufacturing facilities within the confines of our prisons. We use the prisoners to work, building products to be sold on the open market. Pay the prisoners minimum wage for their work. They should then be required to pay a large percentage back to the victims of their crimes plus the legal expense incurred.

This accomplishes a couple things. One, you eliminate the idle mind (the devil's workshop). Second, you teach work skills in manufacturing and at the same time make them productive to society. Next, you produce products that are presently being imported only, sell these products on the open market using the minimum wage to compete with-foreign countries. The revenue generated by these sales would more than pay for the total prison system.

The potential for this type of plan is only limited by ones imagination. Example: It could pay for a boot camp type of training for first-time juvenile offenders, this is where it all begins and we have failed miserably. Or it can provide a place for the homeless to get them off our streets.

Maybe you think this could not be done! This country has done anything it wants and some it didn't for the past 30 years that I know of, it's a matter of wanting to change the present joke of a system, then changing the necessary laws to do it.

Why should we reward these derelicts with the American dream? Everybody agrees something should be done but nobody has a solution. Well, this is one.

Mitchell Shell

Chaffee