$23,876 and a Joint

According to the NY Times, in 2005 the average annual cost per U.S. prison inmate was “about $23,876.” Strangely enough, that is exactly the current annual tuition cost of a B.A. degree in veterinary medicine at UC-Davis. Imagine two young men smoking a joint. They are chased by cops; one is caught, the other gets away. One spends twenty-three thousand, eight hundred and seventy-six dollars to learn how to heal animals; the state spends the same amount to dehumanize the other one.