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Karen Murphy: State acts to halt rise in opioid overdose deaths

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Pennsylvania turns to happiness for new state tourism motto

Regarding the push in the state Legislature pursuant to the early release of segments of the inmate population, I have a few comments.Having worked in a state prison for many years, might I suggest, in regard to cost savings, that some things can&#8217;t be measured in dollars &#8211; and that&#8217;s public safety.Similar early release programs, to save money, proved to be trainwrecks in Colorado, Michigan, California and Oregon, which suspended its early release programs. That&#8217;s because a high percentage of non-violent offenders were not the passive choir boys they seemed. After release they didn&#8217;t go to programs, didn&#8217;t refrain from alcohol, didn&#8217;t stop ingesting drugs, didn&#8217;t stop ripping copper pipes from homes, but they did continue their 2 a.m. Turkey Hill visits wearing hoodies and gloves.Then, they had to be rearrested.In fact, it is the family members of these early released inmates who object the loudest. The families want their wayward sons and daughters to remain in prison long enough to receive the psychological help, medicines and maybe the moral sense they need to curtail detrimental behavior. What the inmates didn&#8217;t need was a get-out-of-jail-free Monopoly card.In Colorado, for example, when 2,600 of these get-out-of-jail cards were ready to be passed out, an uproar was sounded. When the 2,600 were examined more carefully, with public safety top priority, only 264 were deemed fit for release &#8211; with people wondering about the characters of these 264.With few exceptions, non-violent crime is a misnomer simply because most every crime contains the possibility of violence. Given a twist, a turn there, or a tasty word somewhere else, a low-level crime can escalate into a capital offense.Those three 17-year-old kids allegedly bolting over a fence in Scranton, chased by a patrolman who fell to his death, sadly, but absolutely, proves the point of how quickly low-level crimes can shift to top-shelf in an instant.Michael ShamboraLaflin

Letter to the Editor: Early release of low-level offenders a poor plan for Pennsylvania