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Letters

Coming Together on Prison Reform

To the Editor:

Re “A Conservative Case for Prison Reform” (Op-Ed, June 10):

Bravo to Richard A. Viguerie for pressing the conservative case for safely reducing our prison population. As progressive advocates for similar reforms, we look forward to working with him and his conservative allies to wean the country from its decades-long overreliance upon incarceration. But we feel compelled to flesh out Mr. Viguerie’s vague statement about reinvesting savings in “more effective options.”

If we are permanently to change course, these options must include spending those billions saved on “front end” investments like more, earlier and better education, decent health care, affordable housing and job training.

True public safety will come about only when we as a country commit to providing all young people with opportunities to lead satisfying lives.

DAVID HARRIS
JOHANNA WALD
Cambridge, Mass., June 10, 2013

The writers are, respectively, managing director and director of strategic planning at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School.

To the Editor:

The case that Richard A. Viguerie presents for conservative prison reform using “free-market and Christian principles” astonishingly doesn’t address one of the largest elephants in the room: the rapid, billion-dollar growth of the for-profit prison industry.

The draconian mandatory minimums courtesy of the war on drugs, which are consistently and systemically used to exploit racial minorities, coupled with the cronyism of the free market, are the causes of America’s mass incarceration problem, not its solution.

Moreover, shame on anyone who perceives the problem with imprisoning more than two million American citizens as primarily an issue of wasteful government spending, and not as a matter of basic human rights.

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Credit...Andrea Tsurumi

YITZHAK BRONSTEIN
New York, June 10, 2013

To the Editor:

Here are some suggestions from a liberal perspective.

Reinstate parole in those prison systems that don’t allow it. Eliminate the private prison industry, which encourages incarceration. Emphasize a range of preventive approaches, which can be highly cost-beneficial.

Increase access to drug and mental health courts to divert more defendants from prison when their incarceration doesn’t serve the public interest. Once again, permit inmates to apply for Pell Grants, so that those who must be incarcerated have the opportunity to pursue meaningful and marketable education and training. (Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, offer considerable potential in this regard.)

Finally, please note that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention system, with a daily census in excess of 30,000 people, is larger than most state prison systems, and consider what reforms might benefit these people, who are all too often ignored in discussions of prison policy.

ROBERT K. AX
Midlothian, Va., June 10, 2013

The writer retired from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, where he practiced as a clinical psychologist.

To the Editor:

Oh, the irony of Richard A. Viguerie’s essay, “A Conservative Case for Prison Reform.” My recollection is that 20 or 30 years ago, it was mainly conservatives who were insistent on long mandatory sentences for even “the lowest risk, nonviolent” — mostly, drug offenders — while liberals and others favored the approaches Mr. Viguerie now recommends.

It is good that some conservatives now see the light even though it took “spending” to bring it about.

ROBERT N. HAMMOND
Grand Rapids, Mich., June 10, 2013

To the Editor:

Richard A. Viguerie cites “free-market and Christian principles” in his plea for smaller government and compassion. The call for prison reform is laudable, but he should be reminded that compassion is a quality of humanity and not the exclusive property of one particular religion.

R. ALTA CHARO
Madison, Wis., June 10, 2013

The writer is a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 16 of the New York edition with the headline: Coming Together on Prison Reform. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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