A prison sentence shouldn’t be a death sentence

State College, Pa.: My brother is serving a 30-year sentence in Green Haven prison in the Hudson Valley. He has already given 13 years of his life. But the question facing my family is whether he’ll live long enough to serve it. His name is Jose Rodriguez. He’s not a headline. He’s not a statistic. He’s a human being — a son, a brother, a person who still matters. Jose was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, a serious and potentially aggressive cancer. In the outside world, that diagnosis would trigger urgency. Doctors would move quickly, appointments would be scheduled, treatment would begin. But in prison, time moves differently.

Since 2022, my family has been literally begging for him to receive proper medical care. Grievances were filed, calls made, promises given. We’re met with delays, silence and a system that seems to move only when pushed to its absolute limit. And while the system stalls, cancer does not. Here’s what should shake all of us: He can’t leave. He can’t get a second opinion or walk into an emergency room. He’s completely dependent on the very system that’s failing him.

As a society, we decided his punishment would be prison — not neglect, not suffering, and certainly not a silent death sentence. My brother’s life shouldn’t depend on how loud we’re forced to shout. Commissioner Daniel Martuscello, you are in charge. Don’t let my brother die on me. Stephanie Harris

Brooklyn: The USPS wants to raise the price of a single stamp to nearly $1. That seems to defeat the purpose. Each price increase reduces the number of pieces that are mailed. Younger........

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