I take a lot of pride in living in Maryland, a state in which blue politics are not only practiced, but practiced successfully. An expanding social welfare state with a balanced budget, a growing economy, a thriving cultural and educational sphere--above all, political leaders who respond to, and make decisions based on facts, not fantasies.
Which is what makes a story like this so hard to take.
It's bad enough when prisoners find ways to pursue a criminal life even when behind bars. But there is absolutely no excuse for corrections officials to enable the prisoners. They're being paid to punish and/or rehabilitate those in their charge, not to become business (or worse, sexual) partners with them. Do they have no idea how or why they got their jobs? Did someone forget to tell them that they're accountable to the citizens of Maryland, their ultimate employers?
Even worse is the suggestion that somehow, the problem could be solved with more education. I'm sorry, but it doesn't take higher education to understand that, if you're hired to guard prisoners, your duties don't include having sex with them. And, if you can't protect yourself from the prisoners, why should anyone expect you to protect the public from them?
Martin O'Malley, Maryland's governor, clearly has not paid enough attention to the management of corrections facilities in his state. That has to change, from top to bottom, and right now. And not merely because of his presidential ambitions.
No state can be considered blue if it is neither safe nor civilized. And, if a state has prisons being run by the prisoners, it calls into question whether it can ever be either truly safe or civilized.
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