PRISON SITE

The great controversy on where to build a new prison to relieve the overcrowded facilities we now have is a real disaster. They talk about one in Castaic or Saugus and now Central Los Angeles . These sites are all very controversial and rightfully so.

The new plan for Central Los Angeles is for a 1,700-bed prison at a cost for $114 million. That facility is no solution. With the present great increase in crime, believe me, we are going to need a much larger facility for the future.

My suggestion is this: Build a new prison at Manzanar, which was the World War II internment camp for Japanese-Americans. This camp successfully housed thousands of them. There is plenty of land that cold be purchased cheap or for free from the government. The prison could be built not only to house the inmates but also room for prisoners to manufacture products for income and farming to produce food for the prison. It could be self-supporting. The prisoners would have room to be productive and not spend their time in cages. I am sure they would come out better persons.

John H. Love

Arcadia