Overcrowded State Prisons

The prison problem you reported neglected to mention severity of punishment. Longer sentences, while expensive, are not necessarily tougher as was suggested.

Swift and severe punishment deters crime. Our approach, that of extreme consideration of prisoners’ rights, may no longer be economically sustainable.

We needn’t go so far as to cut the hand off a thief, but we ought to make incarceration the punishment that it implies.

Incarceration, if severe but humane, could entail far less time and cost. An example: six months of solitary confinement instead of five years of ordinary time. That “solitary” would deter an offender and those who know about it. Other punishments, not excluding public whippings or other extremes, should not be excluded from consideration. A deadly fear of punishment will deter crime.

RUSSELL T. CONNORS, Pismo Beach