Pubdate: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 Source: New Yorker, The (US) Copyright: 2014 Conde Nast Publications Inc. Contact: http://www.newyorker.com/contact/letterToEditor Website: http://www.newyorker.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/847 Author: Trish Randall INSIDE JOBS Jeffrey Toobin's piece on the inmates and staff at the Baltimore City Detention Center illustrates the devastation of human lives and communities which decades of drug prohibition have wrought ("This Is My Jail," April 14th). Most American drug-prohibition enforcement is in minority communities, even though drug use among minorities is virtually no higher than it is in the white population. With a large percentage of the young men from minority neighborhoods locked up, and few opportunities for young women to make a living wage as anything other than their jailers, sex, romance, smuggling, and gangs within detention facilities should come as no surprise. Even after huge expenditures, the erosion of civil rights across the country, and the disruption of communities and families, drugs are still available both outside and inside our jails and prisons. It is baffling that anyone would think that mere regime and policy changes could improve the conditions in jails, communities, or in the country at large. Trish Randall Vancouver, Wash. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom