Pubdate: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL) Copyright: 2003 News-Journal Corp Contact: http://www.n-jcenter.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700 Author: Carmen Vila Rodriguez Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1261.a05.html Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) SPENDING ON PRISONS Brilliant! Our governor is asking us to reverse our position on smaller class size so he can save millions to spend on new prisons. Professor Robert Batey ("The prison industrial complex," Aug. 20 column) gives us the big picture when he cites President Eisenhower warning us against the "military industrial complex" whose "influence . . . is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the federal government." He compares this to Eric Schlosser's "The Prison Industrial Complex," which the author defined as "a set of bureaucratic, political, and economic interests that encourage increased spending on imprisonment, regardless of the actual need." About 30 years ago my son joined a group of Harvard students to mentor young people in prison. At that point it cost $5,000 per year to send a student to the excellent Scarsdale, N.Y., schools, and it cost $40,000 per year to keep a youngster in a medium security prison system. Yes indeed! Schooling is more cost effective than prison! Well America, have we had enough? Carmen Vila Rodriguez Daytona Beach - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin