To the editor:

Winston Churchill was thankful war was so terrible. Otherwise, he said, we would love it too much. So, during the past month, as we have been engrossed with this war in Iraq, have we been watching other news?

On April 7, buried beneath war news and casualty reports, was a report of casualties in another “war.” In 2002, the U.S. prison population topped 2 million, actually 2.1 million. Rising prison populations is old news. During the past 20 years, prisons have been big business. But there is something about round numbers that is hard to ignore. Two million is a lot of people. Statistically, one out of 140 Americans is now in prison, and the numbers are still rising.

U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft favors a further escalation in the fighting, cracking down harder on drug law offenders. Meanwhile, to cut costs, several states have started releasing prisoners. (Remember, we don’t have enough money for schools.) Most of these 2.1 million people are serving sentences that relate to the illegal drug trade.

Judging from this most recent casualty report, it’s hard to believe we’re winning the “war on drugs.” Is it time to wonder why the percentage of Americans in American prisons is so much higher than any other industrialized nation? Are Americans such “bad” people? Should we, as AG Ashcroft suggests, get tougher, and send still more off to prison, or is it time to take another look at our laws?

Bill Skepnek,

Lawrence