A letter of reference to an Attorney on behalf of an employee facing 40 years -- 3 felonies for drug possession

Below is a letter I sent to the attorney for my employee. It's very disturbing to me that we have violent offenders (killers) walking the streets of E. Lancaster that we can't keep in jail, but we can't get non-violent offenders (who are putting forth great effort to remain clean & lead productive lives) out of jail. I'm for change!

Dear Ms. _____ –

So n so has been a part time employee of mine since December 2008. I have known so-n-so to be a very hard worker with a compassionate heart. I knew when I hired so-n-so that she had a criminal record with drug use. I purposefully hire people with a non-violent criminal history because I believe it is important to give such individuals a chance to work and participate in a productive cause for their life.

My business is in the middle of the homeless shelters in Ft. Worth so I get a bird’s eye view of the product of our system -- people with criminal records not being able to find jobs. It’s something that cost us taxpayers enormously! I am a huge proponent of “helping” non-violent offenders – not enabling them, but actually “helping” them get their lives back together. I am also a huge proponent of early childhood intervention and development of “at-risk” children as I believe that irresponsible parenting is the cause of most of our drug, crime & homeless problems in society.

Please let me know how I can help with so-n-so's case. I have witnessed so-n-so put forth a tremendous effort towards a drug free, responsible, hard working, productive life in the past few months and hope that our justice system will invest in keeping so-n-so clean & productive, especially since she has the desire to participate in, and work for the betterment of such.

Feel free to contact me anytime.

Respectfully,

Suzette Watkins