Prison Secrecy

* In the commentary by Franklin E. Zimring (July 16), he states that problems with California prisons “will remain as long as public indifference about prisons is a persistent feature of the landscape.” I disagree with this presumption.

As a current prisoner of the California Department of Corrections, I am witness to many of the abuses and increasing restrictions that Zimring alludes to. To cite, however, public apathy as a major force in their continuance is missing the point. The corrections administration behaves as if it has no public accountability for its actions. Nothing about this will change until the rules prohibiting media access to prisons and prisoners are lifted. No other segment of our state government spends as large a portion of our budget while operating behind such a veil of secrecy. You cannot expect the public to get worked up over conditions and injustices that they don’t know about.

SANFORD D. JONES

Norco