CAN WE CHANGE POLICY?

Re: "Building more prisons in Florida isn't the answer", Feb. 16, editorial

Let me simplify: We spend too much tax revenue jailing people whose
undesirable behavior has been criminalized.

You mention increased penalties for driving with a suspended license.
What about individuals who self-medicate mental illness? In Pinellas
County we have Vincent House, a social and vocational recovery program
for adults living with mental illnesses.

What about the approach being taken in Texas to reduce costs simply by
"shifting money around"? It was described at a conference in Tampa in
late November by Jerry Madden, a self-described "hard-line
conservative" Texas legislator who sponsored the bill in 2007 that
shifted his state away from incarceration at all costs to
rehabilitation and treatment where appropriate.

Finally, what about small-time selling of an illegal drug? In the
1920s bootleggers went to jail for "bootlegging," a policy we wisely
ended in 1933. We should consider that, too.

Many ideas have been mentioned, but there's no one in Tallahassee to
act on them.

John Chase, Palm Harbor