Pubdate: Sat, 26 Jul 2003
Source: Greenville News (SC)
Copyright: 2003 The Greenville News
Contact:  http://greenvillenews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/877
Author: Freda Robinson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

MANDATORY SENTENCES COST US IN MANY WAYS

What can be done to help this state with the budget? My suggestion is to 
take some of these inmates in our prison system out of prison and have them 
under the home monitoring system. Let there be a set fee which this person 
should pay on a weekly basis. A lot of these people are first-time drug 
offenders who have been sentenced to these long, fixed prison terms, 
without even a chance of rectifying their mistake. These laws are costing 
our state millions of dollars. These people could be out here working and 
paying taxes instead of locking them up for 15-25 years, and it costing the 
taxpayers more money each year.

In my opinion, these first-time offenders should not have to do 85 percent 
of these long sentences. The majority of these offenders work while 
incarcerated and do not get any credit for this. By giving them credit, it 
would give these inmates more ambition to try harder, instead of 
discouraging them.

This war on drugs is not working, and mandatory laws for drug offenders is 
not working. The jails are getting more full every day, with some of the 
prisoners having to sleep on floors, or three prisoners to a two-prisoner cell.

Give these particular offenders another chance, and if they are repeat 
offenders, put them back for the remainder of their mandatory sentence. 
Come on, South Carolina, wake up!

Freda Robinson, Chesnee
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MAP posted-by: Jackl