Letter: Forum would help community see need for criminal justice health care

Published 12:03 am Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Your article (March 4: Health care for newly released offenders can benefit many) would make for a really good public forum/informational, I think.

Our parish has a large number of non-violent offenders who go into the system with mental health issues and come out untreated and more likely to re-offend (not necessarily, violent offenses, but offenses nonetheless).

If the dialogue was rooted in actual numbers, I think people would have a greater appreciation for the need to invest on the front-end in prevention measures, especially those of us who appreciate that some costs, though undesirable, are unavoidable, and those of us who understand the principles of cost-benefit analysis.

Regards,

Nghana Lewis Gauff

LaPlace