Three Strikes

Re "3 strikes and prisons will bulge, state says," March 1:
Our government just doesn't get it.  We aren't so sick of
crime as we are of criminals, and of a system of jurisprudence
that refuses to punish criminals adequately.  We don't care
that prisons are overcrowded.  I'd go so far as to say that
most of us would like to see the conditions in our prisons
deteriorate rather than improve.
   Somewhere along the way our justices have forgotten that
most people in our society live with "cruel and unusual"
circumstances in order to pay for three square meals, medical
benefits, a bed and a roof, heating, telephone privileges,
cable TV, library visits, dental benefits, etc.
   We certainly don't want our government stealing from 
us (taxes) to supply such niceties to those who would steal
from us (criminals).

Gerald J. Klaas