JAIL CROWDING

Many people think their families are too loving, religious, conservative
and educated to have members with drug problems, only to learn otherwise.
Many think jail rehabilitates drug users, but learn otherwise. "Zero
tolerance" sounds great until justice is untempered by mercy, and we learn
otherwise.

From The Statesman's article on Aug. 8, it seems there's some progressive
thought in Canyon County. Maybe the judges and administrators in Ada County
are more interested in perpetuating the status quo than in fixing what
simply does not work.

How naive is the assumption that more than 100 people who are in the Ada
County Jail for non-violent, non-vehicular crimes just need more beds, more
space and more jail time. Jailing nonviolent young offenders is detrimental
to their rehabilitation; jail time reinforces feelings of worthlessness,
deepens depression that often triggers drug use, exposes immature
personalities to a hard-core population, and - especially as repeated for
minor infractions of court stipulations - normalizes the incarceration
experience.

Let's spend our tax dollars on more treatment, not bigger jails, and
scrutinize every publicly funded program that treats or disciplines
nonviolent offenders. Compassionately and cost-effectively, let's do unto
others as we would have done to our own.

Janet Asay, Fruitland