25 January 2004

Albemarle County Sheriff Edgar S. Robb must be congratulated for taking the proper stance in who should be chairing regional jail boards. Personally, if I were an elected official I don't know if I'd want the responsibility. But it is the right thing to do.

Regional jails are easy dumping grounds for prisoners who are trouble makers or who have serious (expensive and/or life threatening) medical problems. Once that prisoner is out of the Sheriff's local jail there is no elected official in the loop. So if Dr. Smith at the regional jail, in trying to weed out malingerers from those who actually need meds and with an eye toward his meager budget, withholds necessary medicine from a number of patients who are in serious need of it the local newspaper isn't going to be able to do an expose that points at the sheriff.

By standing up and saying that elected officials should be the ones who take responsiblity for the prisoners who have been placed in their care Sheriff Robb has shown himself to be a class act. A shame he's not in a county where I can vote for him.

No comments: