Prison problems

Re “Prisoners resist moving out of state,” Jan. 28

Since when do prisoners get a vote on where they will serve their sentences? I believe that dangerous felons should be sent to the bleakest part of Alaska, where the natural barriers of extreme cold and rugged terrain would deter escape.

Alaska is the size of Texas, California and Arizona put together and has a smaller population than San Diego. It is an ideal place to incarcerate the most dangerous segment of our population, leaving other facilities for lesser offenders.

ARTHUR HANSL

Santa Monica

*

Re “State prisons in ‘tailspin,’ panel says,” Jan. 26

My son is an inmate in a California state prison. Besides the safety concerns of near 200% capacity, programs are reduced to a minimum by triple-bunking in gyms, former program rooms and training areas. Most people don’t know or see what happens in California state prisons. We don’t see it, but should we? I say yes -- even the Department of Justice has discerned that one in every 32 adults was in a prison, jail, on probation or on parole at the end of 2005. That means probably someone you know or someone on your block is caught in the tailspin.

Although this could be one of the biggest public health and safety issues in the state, legislators continue to shy away from doing the right thing. A society is judged by how it treats its most disenfranchised populations, and that should include California’s 172,000 inmates, their children and their families.

JULIA NEGRON

North Hills