Yesterday, 3 more Pennsylvania prisoners died. The administration took them "off the count" as the other prisoners say. With the prison population aging, many men are reaching 60, 70 and even 80 behind bars. Deaths have become common place; on average about 4 old men die each day in the Pennsylvania state prisons. Many of the dead are forgotten lifers, who finally succumb to Pennsylvania's harsh "other death penalty," old age, ill health, despair and being ground down by the system. Prison isn't about making better people. It's about using people to provide jobs for the staff. A surprising number of the dead prisoners are men (and a few women, too) who are simply not guilty of the crimes for which they were imprisoned. One in seven Pennsylvania prisoners is not guilty of the crimes for which he or she was imprisoned. It's simply a statistical reality. Others of the dead prisoners had been jailed for relatively minor offenses, drunk driving, gambling, carrying a gun, petty theft. Even in Pennsylvania, do we want to kill people for such trivial reasons? The state has declined to the status of third-world savagery. Prison in Pennsylvania has become a death march, relentless torment ending in death. It proves the character of the state (a place for decent people to avoid), but more importantly, it proves that the people in charge simply haven't a clue what to do. It's time to rethink the imprisonment mentality; what's the goal? "Suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other; and new weapons beget counterweapons" John F. Kennedy, 1963 You are welcome to use or republish any of our material. Please give www.prisoners.com credit as the source. Return to the Parole Illusion Menu Return to the Doing Life In Pennsylvania Menu Return to the Main Menu Go to our site's Search Engine Send us Your Comments or Input.