Tarra Simmons (’17), Representative of the 23rd District, Washington State Legislature, contributed an opinion to The Seattle Times urging her colleagues to visit their constituents in prison and pass legislation providing opportunities for release after a period of incarceration (“Without Regular Prison Visits, WA Lawmakers Cannot Address Issues of Incarceration,” Nov. 28). “How can we make thoughtful decisions on issues of funding if we haven’t seen where the money is going? How can we determine how long someone must stay in prison if we don’t truly know what prison is like? And how can we determine that people should not be given meaningful opportunities for sentencing review if we do not know who they are? . . . People can and do grow and change, and our laws should reflect that — I wouldn’t be where I am today if people couldn’t.”