Ideas for Cutting Prison Spending Re "How to Cut Prison Costs" (editorial, Nov. 11): I applaud your sensible editorial on cutting prison costs by limiting obstacles for incarcerated people after release. I would add one easy way to reduce bloated prison populations and spending: Release older incarcerated people who have served long periods of time - a group that has the lowest recidivism rates, meaning that they can be released without endangering public safety. The yearly cost to taxpayers of continuing to incarcerate one old person is as much as $200,000. A New York State study revealed that people released after serving long sentences for murder (mostly older individuals) had the lowest recidivism rate for committing a new offense, 1.3 percent - lower than any other category of those released. Between 2000 and 2011, the New York prison population 50 and older grew by 64 percent. Keeping these elders locked up until they die does nothing to enhance the security of our society. SOFFIYAH ELIJAH Executive Director, Correctional Association of New York New York, Nov. 12, 2012 You are right that "the states" main task is to prune the regulatory thicket that denies access to society" for former offenders. This thicket is known as the "collateral consequences of conviction." It is so pervasive as to have returned us to the cruelty of civil death, in which a person convicted of a crime loses most of his civil rights. Tens of millions of Americans struggle in legal no man's land. As a disproportionate number are African-American, over time we risk resegregating our country. The Uniform Law Commission promulgated an initiative to mitigate the effect: the Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act. Enacting states would track these laws, notify defendants and provide means by which to reduce their long-term effects. We must preserve a safe and equitable society. The writer, a lawyer, headed the drafting committee of the proposed collateral consequences act. Your editorial about the immense cost of operating prisons in the United States neglected a major solution: proper treatment of mental illness in prison and after release. Many inmates continue to struggle with untreated mental illness, and although treatment is getting better in many penal institutions, it still isn't enough. Prisons and jails remain America's major mental health facilities, but treatment seems to be ignored or forgotten after release. That neglect is costing this country billions of dollars and ruined lives. Proper treatment of mental illness before, during and after prison can and often does lead to recovery. FRANK RYAN Middleton, Wis., Nov. 11, 2012 The writer is a past president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Wisconsin.