Pay our prisoners minimum wage

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Manhattan: In “Pump up prison wages” (March 11), the Daily News editorial board called for an increase in wages for incarcerated workers but inappropriately dismissed calls for minimum wage. In doing so, the Editorial Board condoned the exception in the Thirteenth Amendment that protects the institution of slavery in our prisons and jails and its disproportionate impact on black and brown communities. It is unfortunate that this vestige of slavery is still lost on many.

Incarcerated workers are consistently tasked with manufacturing essential products and providing critical services to our society — work that is hard and often dangerous from asbestos abatement to manufacturing emergency supplies. Not only do incarcerated workers deserve wages that reflect the value of their work, but the state should not prevent them from supporting their families or paying restitution to their victims. Ultimately, if they can be tasked with keeping us alive, we can and must pay them a real wage: minimum wage.

Bianca Tylek, executive director, Worth Rises

Character building

Beechhurst: The Legal Aid Society thinks that Gov. Cuomo is exploiting New York State inmates who are getting paid paltry wages to produce hand sanitizer to help fill the explosive demand given the coronavirus outbreak (“Cuorona cleaner,” March 10). Any day now, the It Girl — AOC — will be riling up her Twitter followers and demanding that the inmates be paid $20 an hour. That this humanitarian, and restitutional endeavor could very well have a rehabilitative effect on those prisoners is something social justice warrior types would never acknowledge. Incidentally, the Legal Aid Society’s charge that incarcerated people don’t have access to water or soap to wash their hands is pure propaganda like AOC’s bogus claim that migrants in U.S. detention centers on our southern border had to drink out of toilets.

James Hyland

On the frontlines

Rockaway Beach: When a medical emergency occurs, the first professional a patient comes into contact with is usually a paramedic in the ambulance. Paramedics often work long shifts in highstress, life-or-death situations. Due to the physically (and psychologically) demanding nature of the job, workers frequently burn out, which can lead to shortages. New York’s paramedics have been told that if they are

exposed to coronavirus, keep working until they become symptomatic. Tell the mayor what you think of this. Please.

Maggie Hill

Apples and oranges

Forest Hills: To Voicer Lila Malter, who fantasizes that her President Trump will “rise to the occasion” as a result of this health crisis: Look at the evidence of how this small-minded man has never risen to the occasion during his horrendous threeand-a-half-year term so far. I know he will never rise to the likes of a Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt knew how to take charge during an emergency, while this Toddler-inChief began by blaming journalists for the steep decline in the stock market and didn’t take the coronavirus crisis seriously, disseminating misinformation regarding its severity of it to the American people. Ron Gersh

Letterman’s legacy

Chicago: Top 10 ways of catching the coronavirus: 10) Take a trip to China. 9) Drink a bottle of Corona at a bar and forget to wash your hands. 8) Lick your fingers after you eat a plate of bats. 7) Stand too close to anyone at Walmart. 6) Go to the emergency room at a hospital for a flu shot. 5) Follow directions from President Trump on how not to catch the coronavirus. 4) French kiss someone from Europe. 3) Smoke marijuana with your friends. (Don’t pass the joint) 2) Have sex with an animal name Corona. 1) Vote to re-elect President Trump.

William J. Booker

All talk

Brooklyn: In her letter on the coronavirus, Voicer Lila Malter stated, “If there was ever a time for people to put aside their political differences and enmity, this is it.” This quote came directly after her outrageous accusation that “liberals” want to see the coronavirus sicken and kill people and wreck the economy in order to defeat Trump. The lady clearly does not practice what she preaches!

Dennis Middlebrooks

To the goats!

Manhattan: With everyone so serious about the coronavirus, we need a little diversion to help relieve the tension. With many sports closed, what is a sports addict to do? Mongolian goat races. Not to worry. The sportsbooks in Vegas and Atlantic City will have the odds in no time. Me, I like the mangy one in the third race at Ulan Bator. That’s one ornery billy goat. Stewart Early

Call to sanity

Staten Island: Shame on you, Voicer David DiBello. Just as our parents taught us when we were preschoolers, it is ill-mannered to call people names. Yes, our president can do no better than to poke fun at whoever disagrees with him. But this is no reason for us to stoop to his level. Let’s rise to the occasion and stop the hate, stop the divisiveness, and stop the namecalling. Let’s make America the great country she was before the present administration took office. We are Americans before we are Republicans and Democrats. Let’s act like it. Eileen Zanelli

For here or to go?

Queens Village: If the mayor and chancellor are so worried about the less fortunate children missing out on the only two meals they receive in the day (breakfast and lunch) then dismiss classes and keep the cafeterias open with a skeleton crew to feed the children or have a staff handing out meals to take home. As a retired school secretary, I personally witnessed most of those meals ending up in the garbage can anyway!

Bert Millner

Nonsensical

Brooklyn: Let me get this straight. New York is in a

OFFICE OF GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO state of emergency. We are urged to stay home. Sports, Broadway, large gatherings, and Catholic schools are all shut down, but New York City public schoolchildren and all the workers associated with public schools have to go to school and work. How exactly does this make any sense?

Doreen DeSiena

It ain’t no 9/11

Elmhurst: We should not allow our government to throw the country into economic disarray at the onset of a virus. It is not the plague. It is a virus. Like any other virus, it will run its course and then either mutate or disappear. The market crashed, businesses are closing, people are walking around with masks that don’t really help, and the question remains: Where are the rows of contaminated bodies awaiting cremation? There is no need for this overreaction. Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio are promoting panic not calm. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade should have gone on as scheduled. The NBA should play ball. If we didn’t let 9/11 stop us from living life, why should we let a virus?

James League