COSTLY JAIL TIME

Media reports have estimated the state's current budget deficit to be $255
million.

A newly released report by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in
San Francisco reveals that taxpayers spend $21,000 per inmate per year for
incarceration. In lieu of incarceration, substance-abuse treatment for drug
offenders would cost around $2,500 per individual per year. This is a
difference of $18,500.

We were unable to find statistics on the number of nonviolent offenders
currently in Kansas prisons, but the national total is more than 1.2
million, which averages out to 24,000 nonviolent inmates per state. Saving
$18,500 per inmate would save a total of $444 million for Kansas. By
releasing our nonviolent offenders, Kansas could save enough to eliminate
our huge deficit and be about $189 million in the black.

C.A. RILEY, LARRY D. RANICH

Wichita