BILL BATES: Prisoners live free on backs of taxpayers

The article in the Albany Herald (Feb. 17) about the life sentence of F.W. (name withheld so as to not give additional publicity to a convicted murderer) got me to thinking about the state of our criminal justice system.

Few law-abiding U.S. citizens are so privileged as to have free nutritious meals three times a day, free medical care 24/7, free living arrangements, free exercise equipment, free reading materials, and endless appeals in an attempt to overturn a conviction on a technicality as are criminals given life sentences. Free because taxpayers are willing to put up with this nonsense.

My guess is that if impoverished people in foreign countries had a chance to change their lot in life with a U.S. prisoner, millions would do so.

If those involved in sentencing and conviction — i.e. juries, lawyers and judges — had to personally pay for the full cost, few criminals would be sentenced to life in prison rather than a death sentence carried out within five years.

At some point,this madness has to stop simply because it will be impossible to pay for. What would help prevent some of these crimes is, of course, better education and job opportunities, but there had to be some personal consequences besides jail if costs are to be reduced.

I plan to write a book that will present a deterrent that should greatly reduce the crime rate, avoiding most capital punishment and long-term confinement without the cost involved in providing a taxpayer-paid free lifestyle to criminals, which is, in most cases, really a reward not punishment.

BILL BATES

Albany