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Tell me if I have this wrong. You kill someone, and you are innocent until proven guilty. You get an attorney who makes a deal in which you plead guilty to a lesser crime to avoid major court costs and court time. Instead of being given the death penalty (which is cruel and unusual punishment), you get life in prison, with no possibility of parole.

You are then sent to the new state-of-the-art Utah State Prison, which will soon be built for you, that includes free room and board for the rest of your life. Wow! Who said crime doesn't pay?

My final question is whatever happened to the chain-gangs of the past, an effort to deter people from ever wanting to go to prison?

Joe Wood

Salt Lake City