SPENDING ON PRISONS

Brilliant! Our governor is asking us to reverse our position on
smaller class size so he can save millions to spend on new prisons.

Professor Robert Batey ("The prison industrial complex," Aug. 20
column) gives us the big picture when he cites President Eisenhower
warning us against the "military industrial complex" whose "influence
. . . is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the
federal government." He compares this to Eric Schlosser's "The Prison
Industrial Complex," which the author defined as "a set of
bureaucratic, political, and economic interests that encourage
increased spending on imprisonment, regardless of the actual need."

About 30 years ago my son joined a group of Harvard students to mentor
young people in prison. At that point it cost $5,000 per year to send
a student to the excellent Scarsdale, N.Y., schools, and it cost
$40,000 per year to keep a youngster in a medium security prison
system. Yes indeed! Schooling is more cost effective than prison! Well
America, have we had enough?

Carmen Vila Rodriguez

Daytona Beach