RE-ENTRY: Address bigger issue

Listening to the fear-based arguments against a proposed prisoner re-entry center in Kootenai County, I came to this conclusion: It’s time to decriminalize mental health. Instead of building a release center, a mental health center would solve many of the jail and prison overcrowding problems we face today.

With the passage of Medicaid expansion in Idaho, funding should be more available. Seeing the effective track record of our local mental health court, this is something that needs to be done. Incarcerating people with mental health problems is expensive, ineffective and just plain old nasty.

RUSS McLAIN

Coeur d’Alene