HOUSING, NOT MORE PRISONS

Editor:

Our prisons are full of addicts who will someday be released back into
society.

In prison there are no drugs; plus there is counselling, food and
shelter.

The addict problems come into play in the days and weeks following the
release of the addict from prison.

After prison, the addict has the counselling. But, other than limited
Salvation Army beds, there is no affordable shelter outside prison for
the addict and when the addict finds themselves homeless, hungry and
cold, the root of the addiction rears its soothing head and soon we
have a repeat offender or a death.

By not providing permanent shelter for the addict, after the addict is
released from prison, all the millions of taxpayer dollars spent to
professionally treat the addict in prison are wasted.

We give illegal people who land on our shores money, housing, food,
counselling, medical treatment, and more, yet we give our own Canadian
citizens, whose only crime are addictions, nothing.

We do not need to spend billions of dollars to build new prisons to
house our addicts to prevent crime; what we need to do is build more
housing for our rehabilitated addicts and get them into affordable
housing where they can live and not have to commit crime to afford
housing.

Michael Hodge

Chilliwack