REFORM EXCESSIVE SENTENCING TERMS

The number of incarcerated people in Washington state has quadrupled
in the past 20 years. Our present prison population is more than
18,000. Crime must be punished but the time should fit the crime, not
as our mandatory minimum sentences demand. The time incarcerated
should be utilized as a time for treatment, education, and job
training to aid in the reduction of recidivism and the constant
recycling in and out of prison.

Highly unjust and very expensive, we send people to prison for life
for comparatively minor offenses under our three-strikes law. Many
have had no chance for rehabilitation in the past since educational
and vocational programs were nonexistent. It is unfair and if that
doesn't bother you, consider the unnecessary burden to the taxpayer.

When laws that we've created prevent us from doing the right thing,
it's time to fix those laws. We felt warm and safe with our
three-strikes law but our intent of taking the "worst of the worst"
off the streets has expanded into a mass incarceration that includes
nonviolent people, drug addicts, the mentally ill. We are no safer. We
are a lot poorer. Please contact your state legislators to support SB
5236, (Providing a minimum term sentence for certain persistent
offenders) for much-needed reform.

Sandra Gadberry

Vancouver