TOO MANY BAD LAWS KEEP THE JAILS FULL

We don't need more jail beds in Orange County ["2,500 new jail beds
needed now, study says," News, March 17]. What we need is to stop
arresting people for victimless crimes.

Our jails are filled with people arrested for simple drug possession
who receive sentences double that of murderers, rapists and child molesters.

The penalties for violating your own body are higher than those if you
violate someone else's body. We don't lock up alcoholics for
possessing or ingesting it's their body. So why are we locking up
people for possessing and ingesting other substances that aren't good
for them? Seems hypocritical.

Does self-destructive behavior necessitate incarceration? Especially
at the cost of approximately $33,000 per inmate per year? We don't
need more jail beds, we need to change bad laws.

Sharra Goan
Anaheim