Dear Ann Landers,
am a retired captain in corrections for 32 years and would like to discuss prison rape. When a prisoner com-plains that he or she has been raped by another prisoner, we send the victim to the hospital for treatment and call in the police. Most of the time, the rapist gets additional time added to his regular sentence. Movies do not give you the real picture. Rape, no matter where it occurs, is hideous and dehumanizing. When members of the same sex are housed together for long periods of time, rape will occur. The sex drive doesn't turn itself off when a person goes to prison. In prison, we obtain warrants if there is a complaint. Sometimes, the victims refuse to prosecute. When that is the case, we can do nothing. -St. Louis

Dear St. Louis,
I have received letters from prison guards (and their wives) with the same message. As I see it, the criminal justice de-partment could do a better job of educating and rehabilitating the in-carcerated population so they could make an honest living when they 3 14/ ANN LANI1EI1S are released. Too many revert to a life of crime because they aren't equipped to do anything else. More than 40 years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger, one of the century's most brilliant minds, wrote a book entitled, The Crime of Punishment, in which he reiterated the futility of caging criminals, doing nothing to rehabilitate them and then expecting them to be peaceful, law-abiding citizens when they get out. How prophetic were his words.