Whining Prisoner Needs To Man Up

To the editor: Inmate Charles T. Picarella's letter claiming abuse, malnourishment and lack of adequate health care is weak on specifics. His alleged tale of woe would lead one to believe he's incarcerated in a Devil's Island penal colony somewhere.

He should have gone into greater detail describing the number of times and locations where he's been incarcerated. His personal comparisons, including the amount of time he served as an inmate in each institution, might have given some insight to his expectations of what prison life should be. All he did was complain about what he's getting for free, courtesy of the taxpayers.

About his claim of malnourishment in particular, he should read PA Department of Corrections Policy Number DC-ADM 610, Food Service. It says: "Three meals will be made available to all inmates during each 24-hour period. There will be no more than 14 hours between the beginning of the evening meal and the beginning of breakfast. Two of the three meals will be hot meals that satisfy the nutritional requirements of the facility population, as established by the National Academy of Sciences and the Department's Food Service Procedures Manual; and, therapeutic diets will be provided to inmates to address medically required diets as prescribed by a physician, physician's assistant, dentist, or psychiatrist."

In contrast, there are way too many local people struggling and barely getting by in this depressed area who are not being accommodated like you are, Mr. Picarella. People who are humiliated having to stand in line to get donated food from local food pantries; people with no medical insurance because they can't afford the premiums; honest, hard-working people who lost jobs through no fault of their own whose unemployment benefits ran out and have to shop in second-hand stores for clothes; people at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure because they have to decide whether to buy food and eat or pay the taxes and mortgage.

You're guaranteed three meals a day, two of which are hot meals, while so many unfortunate local people who have never been arrested are being forced to swallow their pride and don't get a hot meal. All the while you get free medical attention, when so many economically strapped people have to do without it. How dare you complain?

And it's costing the taxpayers how much per day to keep you incarcerated because you ran afoul of the law and think you have it so bad? People like you need to stop whining and deal with your personal failures against a peaceful society of law-abiding citizens. You alone are directly responsible for the decisions you made that put you where you are.

Man up. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

Michael J. McCarthy

Mechanicsburg