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Prisons
A Letter You Can Send to Your Elected Representatives

You can use this letter to make a difference today!

Dear (your elected representatives):

The USA holds the world record for prison population. More than two million individuals are in federal and state prisons and local jails.

We taxpayers pay billions of dollars, stifling investments in education, libraries, the environment, job training, hospitals, and other social priorities.
   
I urge you to support reform legislation to:

  • Invest more money in education and social reform to provide alternatives to a life of crime for youth in disadvantaged communities.

  • Eliminate mandatory sentencing. Change harsh laws, such as the Rockefeller Drug Law in New York, that fill prisons with non-violent offenders and cost taxpayers millions of dollars more than rehabilitation.

  • Fund community alternatives to prison for non-violent offenders. This should include counseling, outreach programs, drug rehabilitation, education, job training and victim restitution. These are proven to be safer, more effective and less expensive than prison.

  • Fix inhumane prison conditions that often include sexual and physical abuse. Provide condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS that released prisoners then spread to many others.

  • Hire psychologists to understand prisoners' problems and address the appropriate rehabilitation and education programs for them. Prisoners are wasting precious time that could be used for the benefit of society.

  • Help released prisoners start new lives,  and get employed and educated. It is very hard for a released prisoner to start a fresh life when he has learned little being behind bars and is sent back on the street with just a few dollars in his pocket.

    Please let me know how you support specific legislation for these badly needed reforms. Thank you.

    Sincerely,

    (your name)

Easy, Effective Ways to Influence the Press, the Public and Our Elected Representatives

by Manny Fortunato and Bill Blackman

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online May 21, 2004,  latest revision October 21, 2005

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