Dear San Quentin News,
I’m currently incarcerated in the Florida Department of Corrections with a life sentence, eligible for parole after 25 years. The current parole system doesn’t work in Florida. There are about 4,500 of us left of about 100,000 inmates and a lot of these guys are old. Why is Florida not giving these guys a shot at society after 28, 30, 40 years? I admire what the state of California is doing, particularly San Quentin with the programs.
Respectfully Yours,
E. Wilridge
Hamilton Correctional Institution
Dear Mr. Wilridge,
Thank you for taking an interest in the San Quentin News. San Quentin has an abundance of programs, but the inmate population started the majority of them. We appreciate the administration for allowing us to implement these programs; however, there are many inmates who, as you suggest, are old and still float around California institutions. For example, I know a man, Mr. Alexander, who has been in the California state prison system over 40 years and was sentenced to seven-to-life. These people have paid their debt to society, been rehabilitated and should be given a chance to prove that they are more of an asset to the community they damaged—instead of wasting taxpayers’ dollars sitting in a 4-by-12-foot cell.
Sincerely,
Richard “Bonaru” Richardson
Editor-in-Chief
