On my blog and in my E-Newsletter last week I advised you of a plan by La Crosse County, Wisconsin to release all of its female prisoners. Many of you wrote letters about the plan to the La Crosse County Tribune and reporter Reid Magney, who wrote the story. The Tribune’s recent editorial La Crosse County plan makes sense for female jail inmates (12/27/07) asks readers to “curb your hysteria” and complains:
“La Crosse County’s proposal to offer more services to women jail inmates  and to deal with them through electronic monitoring and in a halfway house rather than in jail  has caught the attention of ‘men’s rights’ advocates throughout the nation. They are flooding the Tribune with e-mails about what a disgusting idea this is, and how it will result in violent women being released on the community.”
In Online Outrage Over La Crosse County Women’s Jail Alternative Program, Reid Magney similarly notes:
“Man, oh, man! I got back to work this morning after a long Christmas weekend to see my e-mail inbox had exploded with comments from people upset about La Crosse County’s new jail alternative program for women, which I wrote about in the Dec. 21 Tribune.
“Apparently the story got noticed by a men’s rights blogger or two, and they were off to the races. Most galling to them was Supervisor Keith Belzer’s quote, that women are almost always in the criminal justice system ‘because of some kind of relationship with a man.’
“I can’t possibly respond to all the e-mails, some of which are also letters to the editor.”
The thrust of the paper’s defense of the policy is that most of the women offenders who may be released are nonviolent, and are often incarcerated for drug abuse. This is a perfectly valid point, but it in no way contradicts my point. I’ve stated on many occasions that I oppose incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders in the “War on Drugs,” and if La Crosse wants to release nonviolent drug offenders, that’s great. The point is that these offenders should be released regardless of their gender. The policy should not be “we’re going to release women offenders,” the policy should be “we’re going to release non-violent drug offedners.”
Magney also brings up some points which were not in his original article, including problems with the facilities the women prisoners are jailed in. Some of his other points seem less convincing, but I’m not familiar with the details. But our point–that we should not dismiss women’s crimes simply because they are women–remains valid and applicable.
Thanks to all of the readers who responded to Magney and the Tribune, including members of the National Coalition of Free Men. Many of the letters are reprinted on Magney’s blog.
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