IF CHANGING LIVES ALSO SAVES MONEY, LET'S DO IT

Goodness. I just love living in a state totally controlled by
Republicans. "Is price too high for punishment?" (News, May 23)
pointed out that Georgia should be looking to Texas, and model a
program here like theirs. The idea of modeling anything after Texas
got my attention really quick (I hope we don't copy their textbook
commission).

The take-away message here is that changing the lives of nonviolent
offenders is all about saving money. It's never about doing the right
thing for nonviolent citizens. It's never about the human capital
absolutely wasted, if not destroyed, in our prison system. It's never
about perpetuating a permanent underclass that will never be able to
productively contribute to society. I won't even delve into the issue
of how harsh and inflexible our sentencing is.

But, yes, save the money and the humans -- and maybe spend those
taxpayer dollars to save a bunch of teacher jobs; restore music and
arts in our elementary schools, and hire a few bank examiners to shore
up a weak state banking system. Preventing a few more bank failures
just might save a few jobs, and a number of small businesses.

Donna Williams, Macon