LETTER ON PRISONS FAILED TO TELL THE WHOLE STORY

I find it rather disingenuous for Andrew T. Lefevre ("Attack on
prisons was unfounded," Letters, Sept. 10) to chastise Robert Batey
("There's a prison industrial complex at work in Florida," Letters,
Aug. 21) for warning about the prison industrial complex, seeing how
Lafevre's association, the Association of Private Correctional and
Treatment Organizations, represents corporations that profit from the
incarceration of human beings.

While Lefevre argues that Florida's inmate per diem costs have dropped
in 2002 compared to 1997, he fails to mention that the Florida
Department of Corrections total budget has increased from $1.5 billion
to $4.3 billion over the same period.

Before Lefevre objects to my observations, it should be noted that I
work for the Florida Police Benevolent Association, which represents
state correctional and correctional probation officers. And while our
members have a direct interest in the incarceration of criminals, they
do so with a sense of public duty and not private profit.

KEN KOPCZYNSKI

Florida Police Benevolent Association

ken@flpba.org