BUILDING PRISONS NOT ANSWER

I have watched over the years the political arena in the state of Alabama
in regard to the judicial system and the Department of Corrections. It is
horrifying to watch the drama that is played about life and death.

We are the poorest state in the United States and yet we offer nothing but
rhetoric whenever there are positive decisions to be made about the
well-being of life - education and health care included.

We do not need to build more prisons. This is only a short-term solution to
a consistent problem that has not ended and will not end until we have
alternative programs that address social problems that we have created.

Eighty-nine percent of Alabama inmates are incarcerated because of
drug-related crimes. We are in need of drug treatment programs that not
only address the drug addiction, but the problems that the individual has
that resulted in crime and addiction - poverty, unemployment, lack of
education, domestic abuse, lack of decent housing, nutrition and health care.

If we invest in long-term programs that are preventive we would produce
more healthy, productive citizens. The next step is to clean up the old
laws that have been in existence before the Civil War. The laws are
outdated and do not reflect today's citizens or government. We can no
longer become a state of containment, but one of progress and concern for all.

D. Miller Fairfield