Letter: With felon recidivism, Florida needs Bridges of America
program  Lynn Lohsen, Vero Beach  Letter: With felon recidivism,
Florida needs Bridges of America program  Removal of the Bridges
of America program is a great injustice to our state. More
people, communities, families and children are affected by pain
of their loved one being incarcerated, let alone facing the more
than possible future return of imprisonment due to lack of tools
to cope and return to "real world."  Florida has prison 140
facilities. In 2010 the state recidivism rate for prisoners was
about 33 percent across three years. This does not figure in
those who spend time in city jails, federal prisons, or who are
incarcerated in other states.  Florida's more current prison
population (2010) is 102,319 inmates, with 156,000 on probation,
often to re-violate.  Incarceration is based on many issues —
drugs, anger, depression, family loss, mental instability, lack
of coping mechanisms and other tools to coexist.  Our jails and
prisons are