Former Jail Inmates Need Society’s Help

Re “Homeless Often Take a One-Way Street to Skid Row,” Nov. 30: With those who broke the law, we threw away the key, but now they are back in town with their token of $200 from the state and a message from the law that says, “Get it right this time.” Some have been out of mainstream society for years, so what can we expect? No family or friends to come home to. No skills or education provided while they sat behind bars.

When I see these “outcasts” living on the sidewalks, existing in squalor and filth, without hope, I have to ask myself, what do we do now? Wasn’t all this prison time a waste of our money? Couldn’t it have been better spent in a more beneficial way, realizing that the outcome would affect all of us? Wouldn’t their lives have had more meaning with rehabilitation, education and medical treatment? And couldn’t we have lived with them much more easily than what we have to face today? Are we willing to change the way we have been doing things?

Barbara J. Brooks

Families to Amend

California’s Three Strikes

Orange County Chapter

Fullerton