RE-ENTRY: Address root problems

What I’ve read about the opposition to the halfway house makes me think that all the Republicans who live in North Idaho (and that’s 90% of the population) have a last name of NIMBY.

Ms. Rose and Mr. Botting threw around a lot of statistics about recidivism rates etc. But here’s a hint: recidivism rates don’t make a bit of difference in this question. I’ll give you some statistics of my own.

The U.S. has the harshest sentencing laws in the world and we have the greatest percentage of our population behind bars of any country, and that includes your favorite bug bears Russia and China.

The halfway houses are an effort to improve the recidivism rates. Do they work? Beats me but I’ll give you a hint. The basic function of prisons in Idaho is exactly as you’d like it — punishment, punishment, punishment. No effort to rehabilitate them or address the root causes that got them in prison in the first place.

OK, hey, I’m easy. But here’s the hard reality you’re not going to like. When they finish their sentence for probably a drug offense, not a crime of violence, they’re going to come home to North Idaho regardless of whether they went to a halfway house or not and there’s nothing you can do about that. And keeping them in jail for the rest of their lives (your answer) is a non-starter.

JEFFREY HARRISON

Worley