ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200018
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
BRUCE MORRIS, Virginia's deputy secretary of public safety, says: ``Taxpayers don't expect us to parade reporters through prisons at all hours and to put security at risk.''
OK. So what? No one's asking for parades at all hours, or for less security inside Virginia's prisons.
We certainly know of no reporters, at this newspaper or any other media organization, foolhardy enough to demand unrestricted rights to sight-seeing and chitchatting inside a prison.
We do know of reporters, however, who have made reasonable requests to interview inmates, and whose requests have been stonewalled. Why?
Do Virginia corrections officials have something to hide?
In one case, a Roanoke Times reporter sought to interview a prisoner at Bland Correctional Center about his criminal past - nothing about how he liked prison or hated the food or what he thought of the warden. The inmate agreed.
Seeking permission to visit, the reporter was told by a Department of Corrections official that the prison wasn't there to provide convicts a soapbox to complain about the system.
The reporter explained this wasn't her intent. Which shouldn't have mattered anyway - unless journalists are to be allowed to ask only state-approved questions.
Whereupon the official said an interview would disrupt procedure and pose a security risk, since guards would have to be pulled away from other duties to oversee the meeting.
Well, no, the reporter responded, she wasn't asking for any special privileges. The inmate could put her on his visitor list and she would interview him during normal visiting hours - when guards already are assigned to watch over inmates and their guests.
But, said the corrections official, the prison can't deal with cameras and equipment. The reporter pointed out she needed to bring only a notebook.
Still he refused to grant the interview. He said he'd have to check with Bland.
Half an hour later, the official told the reporter that the prisoner had changed his mind, and no longer wanted to talk with her.
In a Sept. 15 letter to this newspaper (``Prison security is the top priority''), Morris wrote: ``Just because a reporter feels he or she should have carte blanche access to prison inmates doesn't make it appropriate.''
Of course not. Neither is it appropriate for a bureaucrat to claim that journalists expect prison security to be sacrificed on their behalf. That's a total crock.
The problem isn't just reporters'. State officials have tightened restrictions on all public access to information about the prison system. The administration clearly is trying to keep Virginians in the dark about conditions that, on grounds of overcrowding alone, appear to be worsening.
For our part, we harbor little sympathy for incarcerated criminals. But we would like to get one thing straight: State employees, even in the corrections system, work for the people of Virginia.
Prisons have been at the heart of state policy since George Allen took office. Virginians have a right to know what's going on.
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