My district representative Ruth Briggs King writes expressing concern over allowing early release of some 800 inmates because of their increased risk to COVID-19, arguing that they are being “rewarded simply for being incarcerated during a public health emergency” and goes on to say “for every crime there is a victim.”
I respectfully beg to differ. The public health emergency is, in fact, an emergency that mandates reducing prison populations. Prisons are, by their design and operational requirements, not equipped to provide a reasonable health safety environment for either their inmates or their staff. Secondly, not every “crime” has a “victim.” Non-violent offenders serving time for minor crimes and those serving for parole violations should be returned to freedom without delay.
To cite a single case, where a victim maintains they were not given sufficient notice of an inmate’s release, to justify keeping inmates incarcerated in order to extract every day of their sentence while doing so exposes them to serious illness - even death - amounts to scare tactics designed to play on fear - nothing more. It is certainly not justice - much less mercy.
-
A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.
To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to viewpoints@capegazette.com. All letters are considered at the discretion of the newsroom and published as space allows. Due to the large volume of submissions, we cannot acknowledge receipt of each submission. Letters must include a phone number and address for verification. Keep letters to 400 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content or length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Letters should focus on local issues, not national topics or personalities. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days regarding a particular topic. Authors may submit a second letter within that time period if it pertains to a different issue. Letters may not be critical of personalities or specific businesses. Criticism of public figures is permissible. Endorsement letters for political candidates are no longer accepted. Letters must be the author’s original work, and may not be generated by artificial intelligence tools. Templates, form letters and letters containing language similar to other submissions will not be published.
