PRISONS CARRY A HIGH PRICE TAG

I am grateful that the Mercury News is giving so much attention to the
plight of our prisoners, both juvenile and adult. But what's new in the
experts' opinions about incarcerating young people, mostly addicts, in
prisons that punish, torture and debilitate?

I am a retired school psychologist. Even a beginning course in psychology
will teach that punishment does not change behavior for long and that abuse
and violence only breed more abuse and violence.

If we Californians don't care about the ethical and moral implications of
incarceration, then surely we can appeal to our pocketbooks. If we gave
every prisoner in our youth and adult prison system $25,000 a year for
education (which is what it costs minimally to "debilitate" a person in
prison), I can guarantee we would have a more peaceful and better
functioning society.

Natasha Wist

Morgan Hill