Failing the Community

As I was reading The Seattle Times this morning, I noticed a disturbing article by Jennifer Sullivan. She writes about how many (83 to be exact) felons were released because the Dept. of Corrections had exceeded their limit of beds in King County jails. I'm certainly not an expert on the issue, but this sounds like a serious failure to serve the community. I'm not sure if there needs to be an improved agreement between the DOC and King County or if we need new, larger correctional facilities. But, we need to do something. Releasing dangerous felons because of space issues just seems like a complete failure on so many levels. And again, joe taxpayer is the real loser. The taxpayer who is already paying for these facilities has to be subjected to living with dangerous people considered likely to re-offend. And why you ask? Because our local government system couldn't find a more effective way to hold criminals. This is what bothers me about politics currently. Politicians will vilify the Sonics for wanting a new stadium. Fine, so they don't want to pay for the entire stadium; I understand that. But to consistently beat up a sports team in the media (a high visibility option) and fail to mention this huge issue, is still a failure to serve the community. Some of these leaders want to preach the easy issue and not face the tough ones. Our leaders need to do more than attack the issues that bring the headlines; they also need to hit on the issues that affect every one of us (even if it's not quite so popular or glamorous).

The Seattle Times