'Ex-con' label unfairly applied

LABELING THE deeds of 26-year-old Christopher Williams as those of ``a disgruntled ex-convict" serves to reinforce prejudice against former prisoners ("Deadly rampage in quiet Vt. town," Page A1, Aug. 25). He did not shoot four people because he had been in prison. Rather, his acts resulted from untreated mental illness and the inadequate protection afforded by restraining orders. His prior acts resulted in prison time, where he was not healed and was perhaps further harmed.

The Globe's suggestion that his status of ``ex-convict" somehow explains the tragedy in Vermont is unfair to men and women who leave prison, work hard to rebuild their lives, do not commit criminal acts, and yet must bear the stigma of ex-convict .

JENIFER DREW
Medfield

The writer is a professor in the Boston University Prison Education Program and a faculty member at Lasell College.