Pubdate: Sun, 09 Nov 2003 Source: Florida Today (Melbourne, FL) Copyright: 2003 Florida Today Contact: http://www.flatoday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/532 Author: Jessina Carr MAKE PRISONS MORE TERRIBLE I agree with a recent letter that argued a miserable jail works best. While the American people feel it is their responsibility to rehabilitate prisoners back into the mainstream of life, many people seem to think prisoners should be entertained with television, radio and the use of a telephone. At the same time, taxpayers feed them, clothe them and give them a hot shower and three square meals a day. Furthermore, we also give medical care and a nice air-conditioned and heated building. We also thought it best to give prisoners an education, at no expense to them. These prisoners have been charged with stealing from us and filling our streets with illegal drugs, not to mention raping our children and killing our families. This is how we punish them -- by giving them the luxuries of home. Meanwhile, outside the prison walls we find America's grandparents and war veterans with no food or medicine, no air-conditioning or heat. They cannot afford these things. Our veterans think we have forgotten about them. They fought for our country but many do not have the luxuries of our prisoners. In conclusion, American jails need to be miserable places and we need to reconstruct our jails to fit the crimes of those housed there. Jessina Carr, Titusville - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart