Speakout 4/6

I have a bit of a problem with you saying that prison life is easy. I am taking a course called Corrections from The University of Tennessee at Martin and I once had the same view as you until I became educated on the topic. I watched the same special and you failed to mention it was an all women's correctional facility. You say they have better benefits it might be true to an extent but you can't violate the eighth amendment which pertains to cruel and unusual punishment. If they are sick you have to treat them, end of point. And they do pick up garbage and trash on the side of highways as you said that you would like to see them do. Back to the benefits, they only get paid around 8 to 25 cents per hour, so you add that up deduct cost for them paying for their personal items and figure out how much an inmate might have when they are released from prison if they are eligible. You also say you believe in capital punishment, and I can say I do as well, but do you know it cost millions more just to execute one prisoner than it would to keep that prisoner in prison for life with out parole. For example a study done by the Sacramento Bee said that California would save $90 million per year if it were to abolish the death penalty. If you're wondering why it's because of the automatic appeals process the convicted person gets. Missouri executes more prisoners than any other region in the U.S. think how much the entire country could save? And you go onto say they enjoy life in the prison system. Maybe some inmates do because they feel empowered in the system with how they are ranked in the prison society, but to say all prisoners enjoy prison life is a

little far fetched. The problem lays in the get tough initiatives and the lack of rehabilitation. We are putting people in jail for a non-violent crime for 20 years. That's leading to prisons overcrowding and letting criminals who committed a violent crime out on parole to let all these non-violent offenders in. I think before one speaks of a certain topic maybe you should research both sides of the story then give your view. This view was based strictly on facts and my personal view.

If the government will pay people to stop smoking will they pay me because I never did smoke?

This is about W.T. Woods. If you can not use W.T. Woods, say the old man of Bertrand. Here is the message: I see where W.T. Woods still has the diarrhea. He is running off at the mouth again. Need I say more?

I saw Channel 12 last night, a young man that was in a wheelchair who said he would die if they took him off of Medicaid. There are a lot of jobs you can do at home and make money or he could get a job using mind and art because I'm sure he has a brain. He could work in an office or about any job that you could sit down and do. Every town has a transit bus that could pick him up and take him back home. How about some friend or some church helping him out? I think he could get by fine, he is not what you would call a cripple. I would imagine a lot of these young boys in the service will find jobs when they come back and some of them won't have any legs, maybe just part of an arm. I think he is just feeling sorry for himself.