Prison rehabilitation is a waste of time

Re “Parole in California: It’s a crime,” Current, April 23

The true crime is how much money is wasted each year by PhDs doing criminal justice research such as the opinions of the two authors of this article. Recidivism, and in particular “rehabilitation,” in California has always been a joke in our law enforcement communities.

As a taxpayer, I understand the dynamics of tail (unions) wagging the dog (administration). But even sadder is to read a comment such as: “But there’s no denying that our high recidivism rate wastes human opportunity and disrupts family life in unquantifiable ways.”

The truth is that, for the majority of criminals who recidivate, family life is prison.

Unfortunately, the folks who conduct our criminal justice research have little real street life experience to be intellectually qualified to make such a finding.

BOB FELICIANO

Downey