Pubdate: Mon, 05 May 2003
Source: Clarion-Ledger, The (MS)
Copyright: 2003 The Clarion-Ledger
Contact: http://www.clarionledger.com/about/letters.html
Website: http://www.clarionledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/805
Author: Robert Sharpe

EDUCATION CAN WIN OVER INCARCERATION

Rev. Jeremy Tobin has good reason to question Mississippi's use of private, 
for-profit prisons ("State's future with education not with prisons," April 
21).

For decades, entrenched interests riding the drug war gravy train have 
dominated the drug policy debate. As a result, state budgets favor 
incarceration over education.

Prison guard unions and for-profit prisons fund the campaigns of 
politicians willing to support mandatory minimum sentencing and 
zero-tolerance drug laws.

This is the business approach to drug policy.

The more citizens behind bars, the more money the prison-industrial complex 
makes. Clearly, there is a conflict of interest here.

It's worth noting that tobacco use has declined considerably in recent 
years. Public education efforts are paying off.

Apparently, mandatory minimum sentences, civil asset forfeiture, random 
drug testing and racial profiling are not necessarily the most 
cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

Program Officer

Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.
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