Anti-Crime Measures

Columnist Linda Blandford’s feeble attempt at gaining sympathy for the inmates at Los Angeles County Jail had the opposite effect upon me (“In the County Jail, 15 Minutes for Men Who Haven’t Got a Prayer,” Commentary, Oct. 3).

I am sure that a great abundance of self-pity exists among those inmates, but where is the remorse for their victims?

For every inmate there is at least one victim--a ghostly presence of a whole army of victims. It is their relatives and friends who are haunted by these ghosts--and society must bear the brunt of their criminalizations.

What does incarceration at the county jail have to do with these inmates coming out of there and “being whole again”? Were they whole when they went in? The first priority of incarceration is punishment, and that is what it should be!

MORT ALAN

Canyon Country