In his recent column, “In the failure of James Featherstone, more evidence that our prison system should be torn down and rebuilt” (Dec. 15), Dan Rodricks expresses “disappointment” that convicted murderer James Featherstone released from prison in 2012 had recently been arrested and charged with armed robbery in Harford County and for a series of armed robberies in Baltimore.
I am not sure how much comfort Dan’s feelings of “disappointment” are to the family and friends of Alan Trimakas, the 25-year-old Johns Hopkins medical student whose murder Mr. Featherstone was convicted of participating in during an armed robbery as Mr. Trimakas walked to his car at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 15, 1979 just months before he would have graduated from medical school.
Releasing violent felons from prison sentences and hoping for the best is like letting a toddler play with a pit bull. It may bring a brief period of joy to each, but a quick review of the numbers should cause enough concern for one to mitigate such a risk.
Dan’s suggestion that the community from which Mr. Featherstone stole a life is or was somehow responsible for his actions is disheartening at best.
Adam Miller, Towson
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