KPCC FM “Off Ramp” reporter John Rabe kicked off his new blog this week and it's well worth a look. After some color posts on the upcoming Duarte Route 66 Parade and Classic Show and the parrots of Cypress Park, Rabe stepped into the deep end of the statewide controversy about prison overcrowding. Rabe says the two things he's learned about prisons in 27 years of reporting is that a convict's punishment should be limited to the time he serves (and not include the “extras” that occur behind bars), and that the only proven antidote to recidivism is education.

“One expert told me,” Rabe writes, “'They're gonna get out. What kind of prisoner would

you rather have living in your neighborhood? One with an education and

a job or one without?'”

Rabe links to both his unedited “Off Ramp” interview with Joe Dominick about Dominick's prison feature in the new Los Angeles Magazine, and to the story's gripping photographs taken by Ted Soqui.

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