Pubdate: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 Source: Des Moines Register (IA) http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051117/OPINION01/511170357/1001/NEWS Copyright: 2005 The Des Moines Register. Contact: http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123 Author: David Yepsen, Register Political Columnist Bookmark: Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) PRISON ESCAPE REPRESENTS A FAILURE OF STATE GOVERNMENT Let us review for a moment the first purpose of government: It's the protection of the public safety. Nothing's more important. The escape of two dangerous convicts from the state penitentiary at Fort Madison Monday night shows that protecting public safety didn't happen. In other words, state government failed Iowans Monday night. It's the second time in two years lifers have escaped from an Iowa prison. (Two years ago some dolt left the alarms on fences turned off during a construction project at Oakdale.) To borrow a prison phrase from actor Struther Martin: What we have here, is a failure . . . of politicians. Both Republicans and Democrats at the Iowa Statehouse have participated in shorting corrections budgets in Iowa for too long. A guard tower went unmanned, and an escape resulted. Now political leaders must be called to account. This is one of Gov. Tom Vilsack's worst nightmares. It eclipses everything else he's trying to do as he prepares for his last year in office and a run for president. Governorships and political careers have been ruined over prison episodes like this. That's because at some point voters figure out the governor is the CEO and is accountable for the Department of Corrections. The initial reaction of Statehouse politicians on Tuesday was to point fingers. Democrats said Republicans cut corrections budgets. Republicans said they approved the budgets sent them by Vilsack -- and increased spending each of the last two years. The nasty fact is all have been too cheap. Iowa has some of the lowest per-capita levels of spending on corrections. The only group with the right to say "I told you so" is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union. It represents prison guards, and it has warned both parties that the staffing levels at the state correctional institutions were too low. Soon, look for a cover-up. All the politicians and prison bureaucrats will figure out that this name-calling is a no-win deal for everybody. So, they'll agree to say nothing. They'll start stonewalling and hiding information. (Confidential security matters, you know.) And they'll use the Abu Ghraib defense: They'll try to it pin all on some lowly, overworked prison guard. This peon will be fired, proving again that bureaucracy always assigns accountability at the lowest levels to cover the fannies at the highest levels. Iowans deserve better. As the governor and the Legislature prepare their budget for next year, they need to give corrections first dip in the money bucket. As we vote for a new governor and a new Legislature next year, don't let them forget what the first purpose of government is. We have a right to be safe from sex offenders, meth dealers and, yes, escaped lifers. Elderly Iowans live in special fear of crime. There will be other ramifications. The escape will embolden other inmates. And it will add fuel to the fire for a death penalty in Iowa, something polls show Iowans already support. Death-penalty opponents are fond of saying, "We do have the death penalty in Iowa. We lock them up, and they die in prison." Uh, Messrs. Moon and Legendre just shot a hole -- or strung a homemade rope -- through that theory. You can bet gun sales are increasing as well. News stories said Wednesday people around Fort Madison were locking their doors. Yeah, and I imagine some were were locking and loading, too. People have a legal right to do that, and many do. If government can't protect us, more probably should. Right now, our hopes and prayers have to be with the men and women in the manhunt for these chaps. These officers are doing the hard work of cleaning up the mess left by our politicians and their minions. These law officers range from young adults with families to grizzled veterans. I have always wondered what it was that motivated people to devote their lives to protecting the rest of us from society's lowlifes. But I'm glad they do. At some point, one of them may come face to face with the duo, convicts with nothing to lose. May God be with our thin blue line.