Dear Debbie,

I’ve been watching you since your late-night speeches in the House, along with Kendrick Smith and others. I admired what you were doing to ensure that the record represented all the voices it should.

But privatized prisons for anyone is just wrong. Rather, we should be looking for ways to close prisons by reducing outrageous sentences for non-white offenders, and emulating the successful methods used in Scandinavia. Millions of people incarcerated does not equal justice, or “fighting crime”. It is systematic marginalizing of a huge segment of our society.

I believe you have a great chance to become a strong advocate in our country. Please do the right thing now.