Question Time
On Saturday night, corrections officer Jayme Biendl was found dead in the chapel of the Monroe Correctional Complex. She died at the hands of Byron Scherf, a three-strikes lifer who
There's no beating around it: this is a terrible incident. There are plenty of questions. Why was a woman of Jayme's size left alone with someone with a lifetime pass in Monroe? Why were her questions and protestations not answered? Why was she left alone with a guy whose strikes have all come from abusing women? Why was he out of his cell with privileges in the first place? And on and on. Those are all questions that will be answered in time, I hope. But I have some questions for our governor.
I haven't made it a secret what I think of Governor Gregoire. I've been a vocal, vociferous critic, and I think I've backed up my criticisms with the things she's said and done. Since her election in 2004, I've had a steady stream of material with which to work. Rarely surprising, sometimes infuriating, and even contemptible sometimes, there's one thing I haven't felt yet, and that's complete disappointment.
Yesterday, the Governor gave a news conference about the events of the weekend. One of two eye-rollingly bad statements was: "Our correction system exists to end crime and violence, not to be a scene for more of it." Gee, thanks for that. I'm sure that's terrific comfort to the family of the guard who lost her life. Maybe the Governor doesn't write her own speeches, so I suppose she could be forgiven for reading that particular platitude. But then she uncorked this: "I will ask the National Institute of Corrections for a complete outside investigation. To review this incident and ask if proper procedures were followed and if the policies in place are adequate."
Here's the answer: No.
No need to thank me, Governor, for saving your debt-ridden state the money you'd spend to figure that out. A woman died precisely because the policies were not adequate. Adequate policies do not end with the death of a prison guard. You don't need an outside panel to run ISO 9000 and looking to see if Monroe is running Best Practices. The answer was found in the chapel on Saturday night.
what disappoints me is that those words came out of the mouth of our Governor. Not "This is a first in the last 30 years at Monroe, and it won't happen again. I will see to it that this never happens again." Maybe she says that because admitting "we really screwed the pooch here" would be accepted as an admission of guilt in a court of law. If that's true then that's just her being a weaselly lawyerly type instead of being forward and honest with people. I don't care. This was nonsensical from every angle, from a Governor who seems to go into Cover Our Ass mode and who thinks that ordering all flags to fly at half mast will whitewash over it is OK. It isn't OK, it won't ever be OK.
Being mad isn't going to bring Jayme back. It isn't going to get Byron a Super Double Stuffed Life Without Parole sentence. But I'm still mad at the situation, and that the Governor really didn't seem all that concerned with getting the job done. I am, in a word: disappoint.
There's no beating around it: this is a terrible incident. There are plenty of questions. Why was a woman of Jayme's size left alone with someone with a lifetime pass in Monroe? Why were her questions and protestations not answered? Why was she left alone with a guy whose strikes have all come from abusing women? Why was he out of his cell with privileges in the first place? And on and on. Those are all questions that will be answered in time, I hope. But I have some questions for our governor.
I haven't made it a secret what I think of Governor Gregoire. I've been a vocal, vociferous critic, and I think I've backed up my criticisms with the things she's said and done. Since her election in 2004, I've had a steady stream of material with which to work. Rarely surprising, sometimes infuriating, and even contemptible sometimes, there's one thing I haven't felt yet, and that's complete disappointment.
Yesterday, the Governor gave a news conference about the events of the weekend. One of two eye-rollingly bad statements was: "Our correction system exists to end crime and violence, not to be a scene for more of it." Gee, thanks for that. I'm sure that's terrific comfort to the family of the guard who lost her life. Maybe the Governor doesn't write her own speeches, so I suppose she could be forgiven for reading that particular platitude. But then she uncorked this: "I will ask the National Institute of Corrections for a complete outside investigation. To review this incident and ask if proper procedures were followed and if the policies in place are adequate."
Here's the answer: No.
No need to thank me, Governor, for saving your debt-ridden state the money you'd spend to figure that out. A woman died precisely because the policies were not adequate. Adequate policies do not end with the death of a prison guard. You don't need an outside panel to run ISO 9000 and looking to see if Monroe is running Best Practices. The answer was found in the chapel on Saturday night.
what disappoints me is that those words came out of the mouth of our Governor. Not "This is a first in the last 30 years at Monroe, and it won't happen again. I will see to it that this never happens again." Maybe she says that because admitting "we really screwed the pooch here" would be accepted as an admission of guilt in a court of law. If that's true then that's just her being a weaselly lawyerly type instead of being forward and honest with people. I don't care. This was nonsensical from every angle, from a Governor who seems to go into Cover Our Ass mode and who thinks that ordering all flags to fly at half mast will whitewash over it is OK. It isn't OK, it won't ever be OK.
Being mad isn't going to bring Jayme back. It isn't going to get Byron a Super Double Stuffed Life Without Parole sentence. But I'm still mad at the situation, and that the Governor really didn't seem all that concerned with getting the job done. I am, in a word: disappoint.