Letters to the Editor The Daily Free Press
Dear Editor
The Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations (APCTO) is the trade association for the private prison industry in the United States. We have no members in Massachusetts and there are no private prisons in your state.
Nevertheless, we want to acknowledge and complement the State Department of Corrections and Boston University for the “Prison Education Program” and your paper for its staff editorial, “Education in state prisons” (The Daily Free Press, 11/28/2005).
BU and the state have it exactly right. Without education, inmates have no hope and without hope, they have no chance of breaking the cycle of incarceration. Ninety-nine percent of the 2 million people in American jails and prisons will be released some day. That will be six hundred and fifty thousand this year … and some are coming to a neighborhood near you. If we hope to keep them from re-offending and returning to prison, we must provide treatment, education and rehabilitation.
Basic GED or, as in the case of Massachusetts, advanced college courses, job training and effective drug treatment programs will reduce the number of repeat offenders by 25% to 40%, according to 2003 data from the Management and Training Corporation Institute.
Congratulations to BU and all those associated with this program and thanks to The Daily Press for recognizing this effort.
Sincerely,
Michael LoBue, Executive Director Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations lobue@apcto.org 415-561-6111 WWW.APCTO.ORG
