ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 2, 1996 TAG: 9609030128
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
GOV. GEORGE Allen justifies state prisons' don't-ask, don't-tell policy on the grounds that prisons are dealing with dangerous criminals, not respectable citizens. That won't wash. By denying public access to information about what's happening, prison officials are attempting to shield themselves from accountability.
To be sure, bureaucrats are seldom eager for the public or the media, as conveyers of information to the public, to see what they're doing. Scrutiny is inconvenient, occasionally embarrassing, and sometimes brings down criticism on bureaucrats' heads.
If, say, the Department of Motor Vehicles had a penchant for secrecy, this might be considered merely annoying. But prisons are another matter. They are holding thousands of individuals, not car registrations, behind locked doors. However much the public may regard (in many cases, rightly) these prisoners as scum, the public still should know what they are doing, and what's being done to them.
Yet corrections officials have frequently barred reporters from their facilities since 1995. They cite security as the reason. More recently, even officials' reports of inmate uprisings and other incidents have been withheld until journalists got wind of them from other sources.
The officials claim they have no obligation to inform the public of assaults on staff or inmates, of deaths by violence or other causes, of escapes or attempted escapes. Neither, says a department spokesman, are they required ``to provide a platform for inmates to profess their innocence or make allegations against the prison system.''
These officials seem to forget that the system, which costs millions of dollars each year, is being paid for by state taxpayers. They may have enthusiastically supported Allen's elimination of parole and other crackdowns on crime and criminals. But they have a right to know how those policies are working. If, as some believe, they are causing increased pressures and violence behind bars, Virginians certainly should be told.
As for officials' seeming fears that the public might side with the inmates if inmates are permitted to tell their stories, that's ludicrous. Murderers, rapists and their ilk are unlikely candidates for an outpouring of public sympathy. Does the Allen administration give Virginians no credit for common sense?
Allen, of course, is not the first executive to want to control information closely, and spin it to put himself and his policies in the best light. But open government seems to particularly offend him. The public - to whom the government belongs, in case he's forgotten - and the General Assembly should insist that the secrecy end.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB