Thank you for your coverage of criminal justice reform efforts in Massachusetts.

If, however, you are going to mention three times in one article (“Mass. officials unveil plan to prevent people from returning to jail,’’ Metro, Feb. 22) that the incarceration rate in Massachusetts is low compared with other US states, doesn’t it seem fair also to mention that the incarceration rate in Massachusetts is very high compared with other wealthy democracies?

According to the Prison Policy Institute, the Massachusetts incarceration rate is roughly twice that in Great Britain, three times that in Canada (or China), and more than four times that in Germany and France. Massachusetts has a higher incarceration rate than Iran, South Africa, Singapore, Belarus, and most other countries.

Do we really believe Massachusetts citizens are more disorderly than people in most of the rest of the world? Or is there something else going on here?

Lori Kenschaft

Arlington