Jail Bird Logic

Did you know that in the past two decades the amount of money that states spent on prisons has risen at six times the rate that they spend on education? I find it alarming that The Score (Jan. 25) awards the new city jail a +5 even while admitting that the project was plagued by “two years of fits, starts and flubs” and cost the city more than $134.6 million. Maybe you don’t find it troubling that we’re investing money in incarceration at a time when our country jails a larger percentage of the population than any other in the world, but I do. Just imagine how much better off we’d be if all that money and effort spent on the jail had been directed toward high-school dropout prevention programs and re-entry initiatives. I think Style Weekly should get a -10 in the next zeitgeist rating for failing to see through the PR campaign of the mayor’s office.

Leah Page
Henrico

TRENDING

WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW — straight to your inbox

* indicates required
Our mailing lists: