Understanding Prisoners

"When I was in prison," Christ asked, "did you visit me?" Central Dallas Ministries chief Larry James can answer "Yes." Read his blog post from Urban Daily titled "Understanding Prisoners," including a moving letter from an inmate describing his struggle with addiction that led to an aggravated robbery conviction. Writes James:

I'm coming to the conclusion that a significant portion of our current prison population should be cared for in much less expensive environments that offer the promise of much more positive outcomes. I have a number of reasons for saying this--the experience of a number of states who seem committed to changing the system for non-violent offenders, the amazing strength of the "prison lobby" in this country, the terrible recidivism rates for ex-incarcerated persons, and personal experience with inmates and former inmates.