Texas Incarceration Costs.
Wilbur R.Fitzgerald’s Feb.14 Viewpoints letter, "Footing bill for the deadly," reflects the mistaken belief that it costs more to keep a person in a maximum security prison than it does to implement capital punishment.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, it costs approximately 2.3 million dollars to try a capital case in Texas, since a capital case requires two district attorneys, more investigators and more pre- and post-trial motions. Actually, 1.6 million dollars is spent before the appeal process even begins. That is 3 times the cost of incarcerating a person at the maximum security level for 40 years. This money could be better spent preventing crime.
Texas should abolish the death penalty and replace it with a life sentence without possibility of parole.
Steve Pugh, Houston
(Houston Chronicle)