SAVE THOUSANDS OF WASTED LIVES

Gov. Rick Perry has proposed spending $96 million on new prison
construction. Why can't we do more forward thinking?

In 1996, Arizona passed a law that diverted nonviolent drug offenders into
drug treatment and education rather than incarceration. Arizona's law
probably makes good law-and-order citizens' hair stand on end, but a look
at Arizona's four-year trial period might be sobering.

In Arizona, they have already saved taxpayers millions of dollars in prison
construction costs and for other expenses that come with incarceration.

The best news is that 75 percent of the offenders referred to treatment
have stayed clean, which has allowed Arizona to reserve its jail and prison
cells for serious and violent offenders.

Texas leads the nation with 21 percent of our inmates incarcerated for
nonviolent drug offenses.

A plan such as Arizona's offers a great opportunity for savings to
taxpayers as well as real rehabilitation instead of the nonproductive
warehousing system that is now in use.

Is this a "soft-on-crime" proposal? No, it is an idea that can make
productive citizens out of thousands of wasted lives.

David A. Hawes,

Dayton