RANTS

Re: "Harper's Tough on Crime Stance"

Besides serving illiterate Conservative notions about crime and
punishment, there is a bigger reason Stephen Harper supports greatly
increasing Canada's incarceration rate. Every prisoner is a cash cow
for the prison industry. People make more money building prisons than
schools because every steel--barred "room" costs hundreds of thousands
of dollars to construct. Hugely profitable businesses exploit the
prison system to the tune of billions of dollars a year here in the
U.S. In fact, prison industries are one of the fastest growing
segments of the economy. Everyone from prison guards to political
impostors profits from a huge prison system. It looks like Harper
intends to import this policy into Canada. The people who do not
benefit are school children who see funding for books, computers,
teachers' salaries, etc. sacrificed for a brain dead crusade against
drugs. More prisoners are serving hard time for victimless drug crimes
than for rape, assault, armed robbery, child molesting, kidnapping and
murder put together. Every prisoner costs more than $30,000/year.
Multiply that by a few hundred thousand and we're talking about some
real money. It's obvious that Harper's pals will make millions with a
mandatory sentencing scheme.

Ralph Givens

Daly City, CA