Preparing prisoners for release

In his letter to the editor on the July 11, Thomas Finiak states that the Democratic candidates for governor want to “put criminals back on the streets” and that they “want to ignore and rewrite the laws of the land” when they do that (“Keep criminals locked up”).

Apparently Finiak is referring to the Democratic governor candidates who have promised to reduce the prison population. He must think that judges send almost every convicted person to prison for life without parole. And he must think that the gubernatorial candidates have in mind simply opening the prison gates and letting the inmates out regardless of their sentences. Both assumptions are false.

Ninety-seven percent of all prisoners in Wisconsin will, by the determination of the judge, return eventually to the community. That reality should not be a scary scenario for the community. When people get quality treatment for their underlying drug addictions and/or mental health issues, and when positive education and training is available during incarceration, and when there are adequate resources for people when they are released from incarceration, returnees contribute to the health and vitality of a community.

The goal of incarceration is not simply to punish, punish, punish, but to to restore the health and the humanity of the 97% of the prison population who will one day be returning to our communities.

Joseph W. Ellwanger Milwaukee

Where are the parents?

The Ideas Lab cartoon in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 11 from Doug MacGregor depicts President Donald Trump scowling at distressed immigrant children. The cartoon caption reads: “These kids need to find their parents… and you (Trump) need to find some heart.”

Trump does have heart. When Trump realized the unintended consequence of the “zero tolerance” law he quickly signed an executive order to stop this separation. That was many days ago. And the federal government has been working diligently to find the parents of these children.

It is not the “kids” who “need to find their parents,” but the parents that need to find their kids. Where are the parents? Why do we not hear that the immigrant parents are clamoring to find their children? Could it be that some of these “parents” are not really biological parents but evil adults who use children as tools to get into this country?

I do not understand why biological parents would abandon their children to federal authorities. When detained parents realized that they would be separated from their children, why didn’t these parents grab their children and self-deport with their children? These families could then try to enter this country the legal way at legal ports.

It is a sad commentary on society if children are so disposable.

Gerald Patterson Milwaukee

Tariffs vs. taxes

Many people don’t understand how tariffs work and the effect they can have on themselves. A tariff is just a federal government tax on the imports of products from another country. That country then imposes tariffs on our exports.

When the president imposes tariffs on China, his supporters yell go get them. Yet these supporters are generally opposed to increases in their own taxes.

Now if instead the president used the word “taxes” instead of “tariffs,” his supporters would rebel. This is because those taxes are imposed on our businesses that then in turn pass them onto the people who buy those products instead of imposing those taxes on China.

The objective of taxes on imported products is to make them too expensive for you to buy, but our manufactures no longer make many of those products in our country.

Burnett M. Schneider Burlington