LIKES EDITORIAL

Dear Editor;

Mr.  Robert Merkin’s 04/23/00 letter to the editor is about as accurate as it gets.  It is time we take a serious look at the current prison expansion and what we are really gaining.

I have also read the 04/10/00 Newsday article “The Town that loved Prisons pays a very stiff Price”, and I am inclined to believe it as my family is from the Malone area and they claim that prosperity there really hasn’t increased that much since the addition of three prisons, actually Malone has recently lost three businesses Ponderosa, IGA, and Agway.

According to a recent report by the Justice Policy Institute, the US prison and jail population topped two million for the first time on February 15, 2000.  With that astounding total, this country has amassed the largest prison population, as well as the highest incarceration rate on earth.  With just 5 percent of the worlds population, the U.S.  has a quarter of the worlds prisoners.  Also alarming is the Institute’s study noting that in the last two decades, state spending on corrections across the country increased by 100 percent while spending on higher education decreased by 6 percent.

I would prefer that we focus our energies on bringing in more industry and promoting tourism, as these avenues would be far more progressive socially and in the long run economically.

Joanne Monnet, Ogdensburg, NY