PRISONS ARE A DRAIN

IN response to ``Hang tough on crime by Mike Olenczuk (Letters, Oct. 6), I
recognize the pain of crime victims and their desire not to be forgotten or
ignored. The truth is that nothing can take that victim's experience away.
Nothing can fix it or change it, not even keeping the perpetrator locked up
for several lifetimes.

Despite that pain, if someone has done his time, he should be released.
That is the law, and that is the sentence that was given to them by a jury
of peers. I am speaking of people who have served their sentences; I am not
interested in having prisoners released before their sentence is up.

The trend toward harsher sentences has filled our prisons beyond capacity.
Our schools need that money, and social services need that money so we can
take steps toward crime prevention. As a therapist in a shelter for abused
children, I know that many of these traumatized children will become future
prison statistics if we don't vastly improve our services for them.

Sage Smiley Oakland