TOUR PRISONS

To The Editor:

St. Lawrence County legislators should tour the prisons. Legislators
are obligated to explore all avenues that can save the taxpayers
money. [Ogdensburg Advance News, Sun, March 7]. St. Lawrence County
was the last to get prisons and maybe the first to lose. Using one of
the state prisons for the new county jail makes sense.

The war on drugs is busting the budgets of every state. Experts say
mandatory sentences, especially for nonviolent drug offenders, are a
major reason inmate populations have risen for 30 years. New York is
to the point where taxpayers have to make a choice, Rockefeller drug
laws or educating our kids.

This would benefit the correction officers. There would be more staff
available at other faculties to prevent the assault that happened at
Franklin Correctional Facility [Ogdensburg Advance News, Sun, March
7]. They definitely need more than one female officer to move a
convicted second degree-murder. On the other hand, they don't need
four officers to move a convicted cannabis user. We need prisons for
people we fear!

With crime steadily declining, county schools losing funding, why do
we need the new jail so big?

Larry Seguin

Lisbon