Two recent articles in the Scranton Times that I wanted to reference.
Father William Pickard's Op-Ed piece.
Community Must Not Tolerate Inhumane Treatment At Prison
From my perspective, this is a must read if you truly profess to be a Christian. Father Pickard holds nothing back in this piece; I particularly like the following excerpt:
"We must hold our county commissioners - Mike Washo, Corey O'Brien and A.J. Munchak - responsible for their failures to govern humanely."
Father Pickard is 100% correct in this assertion, and it's time that our elected officials act as if they are accountable for something.
Prison Guards Engaged In Smuggling?
FBI Investigating Guards At Lackawanna County Prison
If this story pans out...if there is evidence that guards at the prison are padding their pocketbooks by colluding with prisoners to smuggle tobacco products...then we have yet another epic failure of government in NEPA to do the basic stuff that we, the taxpayers should be able to take for granted. Now I realize that running a prison is not an easy undertaking, but in the real world (outside of the Oz-esque bubble called NEPA & certain parts of Chicago) places like prisons are managed by professionals who know what they are doing, not political hacks who treat a governmental operation like an employment agency for friends and relatives.
Perhaps it's time to end the Lackawanna County system of prison governance and replace the Prison Board members with a broader set of community leaders who are less interested in running an employment agency and more interested in the serious work that prisons should be conducting (as noted by Father Pickard).
Side-Bar: I apologize for the font type and size being all over the place in this (and other) postings. The blogger.com folks don't necessarily make changing fonts a seamless process, but hell, it's still free.
No comments:
Post a Comment