To the Editors:

GDO Viewer Opinion

To paraphrase a recent quote in time magazine: Is the state being run for the benefit of its citizens, or for the employees of the Georgia Department of Corrections?

The DOC has a 900 million dollar budget, because the state of Georgia has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Conversely, the SAT scores of Georgia's school children are at 50 out of 50. This has to tell you something is wrong.

What's wrong is that the Pardon and Parole Board is unbalanced, composed of only former law enforcement people whose entire orientation is convict; oversentence;lock up forever--and this definitely benefits the employees of the DOC.

The Board members should include educators, psychiatrists, physicians, and other educated people who can see the overall picture. The PAP board as it now stands is a cancer on the government of Ga. , siphoning taxpayer funds from education and healthcare in order to enhance the prison economy.

It would help if you would send a representative to the April 5th P & P Board meeting to express support for sentencing guidellines reform.

Writerly1

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