Annie’s Mailbox: States should help ex-offenders

Dear Annie: Thank you for printing the letter from “Concerned Aunt,” whose nephew is an ex-offender looking for work.

The United States locks up a larger percent of its population than any other country in the world. Most will be released at some point. Too many employers will not hire them, and landlords will not rent to them. We must find ways of incorporating ex-offenders into society because we cannot afford to continue returning them to prison. Warehousing so many people in prisons squanders our tax dollars and ruins salvageable lives and families.

The respected Pew Research Center for the States says more than one in every 100 people in the U.S. is behind bars. Many of their friends and families are among your readers. I hope you will often answer questions concerning incarceration issues. – Palmdale, Calif.

Dear Palmdale: We believe it is incredibly shortsighted to make it so difficult for ex-offenders to get jobs. It only encourages recidivism, which hurts all of us. Every state should provide help so those who have served their time can become productive and self-supporting citizens. And we admire and congratulate those companies willing to hire them.