This is in response to Douglas Taylor’s letter (Jan. 31).

Taylor writes that “three good meals a day, a warm place to stay, free medical attention and recreation” provided by jails and/or prisons (he didn’t specify) “should be reserved for the elderly, not criminals.”

At the Androscoggin County Jail, those “three good meals” are based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet and make Happy Meals from McDonald’s look like gourmet feasts.

The air temperature inside the facility is kept cold deliberately in order to prevent the spread of bacteria and communicable disease.

None of the medical care is free. Every prescription requires a co-pay, regardless of insurance, and there is a fee that accompanies all sick-call requests.

Recreation is one hour per day, Monday through Friday, and inmates are afforded the luxury of choosing between a basketball and a pull-up bar.

That does not qualify as an establishment for senior citizens, by any means.

As far as the accuracy of DNA testing is concerned — a statewide memo recently released to prisoners has informed them of forensic errors that could potentially overturn multiple convictions.

However, if capital punishment were legal, it would be impossible to rescind the death sentence of an executed individual, now wouldn’t it?

Furthermore, the justice system is failing miserably when one considers that the state’s jails house eight out of 10 prisoners who are unsentenced and not convicted.

Since I have studied the Bible, I ask that Taylor be forgiven, for he knows not what he talks about.

Robert Hart, Auburn