PRISONERS IGNORED DURING HOLIDAY SEASON

It was heart-warming to note our efforts to care for one another during the
holiday season. The homeless, sick, needy, elderly were pretty much
attended to, and this was gratifying. Even the children of parents in
prison received gifts, and much thanks go to all individuals and
organizations that gave of their time, energies and resources publicly and
anonymously to make this happen.

But there's one forgotten segment of our population: those incarcerated
individuals themselves. They were ignored at holiday time because most
often the attitude is that "they deserve to be there."

There is a difference between "doing something bad" and "making a mistake."
An extremely high percentage of our jail inmates are there for "making a
mistake" (i.e., drug use). In most cases, drug users are individuals
seeking a sense of well-being, ways out of pain and problems, something
better. They need someone to show them the way, rather than to lock them up.

Some churches and musical groups did go in to entertain at one facility,
which was commendable, but even they didn't realize there were still other
prisoners who could not be reached because they were locked up in the small
confines of the "high facility," due to alleged drug use within the prison.

Those incarcerated for drugs need something different than to be thrown
into prison and ignored.

Barbara Stokes
Hale`iwa