In his Oct. 17 op-ed, “Probation and parole were created with good intentions. They failed.,” Vincent Schiraldi wrote against probation and parole.
Mr. Schiraldi was the commissioner of the New York City Department of Probation. Probation is an opportunity. I also worked in a probation department. We guided many young men and women to GED programs, vocational training, remedial reading when necessary and counseling. The alternative is prison. The cost to the taxpayers to incarcerate one person for one year is about the cost of a year’s tuition at a private university. Spouses and children of incarcerated people often have to rely on public assistance.
Probation is not 100 percent effective, but it is better for the community, financially and from a humanitarian consideration. Caseloads unfortunately are high — too high.
The answer might be a recognition of the value of probation officers and an increase in funding to reduce the size of the caseloads, giving the officers time to work more closely with their cases. I met a young man who had failed on probation several years earlier and was sent to a state training school. He had since grown physically and towered over me. He told me his name and of course I recalled the case. He then said, “Best thing that ever happened to me. I got my GED, went into the Navy and have made it my career. I always wanted to thank you.”
David Mendelsohn, Ashburn
