Wages should be equal

In the past 18 years, California State University fees have risen 485 percent yet during the same amount of time, prison guard salaries more than doubled and 21 new prisons were built, according to a study by the Justice Policy Institute, a criminal justice think tank with offices in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

Vincent Schiraldi, executive director of JPI, said it is no coincidence that Gov. Pete Wilson received over $1.5 million in campaign contributions from the prison guard union, even though the governor's spokesman, Sean Walsh, called the allegations "outrageous."

Young African-American men suffer from Wilson's policies the most; the study revealed there are five times more African Americans in prisons than in universities.

University professors are inadvertently affected as well.

A day after Wilson vetoed pay raises for other state workers, correctional officer negotiators got a one-year, 12-percent raise.

The Sacramento Bee reported officers' top pay will go from $46,200 to $50,820 a year, while state university instructors' salaries are lagging behind, averaging between $32,000 and $37,000.

Before electing Wilson's successor, let us ensure that our youth will be entering the gates of higher education rather than the bars of a growing correctional facility.