By Judy Reiss
There have been so many things I thought I ought to write about this late spring or early summer that I am actually in a quandary! But here I am and as nervous as I am about writing about this issue, I just can’t help myself!

As I write this, the two men who broke out of Dannemora prison, the most secure prison we have in this country, have not yet been found or caught. And they have been “at large” for more than a week. Can you believe it? Now, I am not blaming the thousands of law enforcement officers who are trudging through hill and dale, swamp and land dry as a bone. The reason that I can’t find it in my heart to blame the police, FBI, etc. is because these guys planned their escape for a long, long time and I can only assume they also planned how to not only get away, but stay away. I do think they will eventually be caught and I hope no one will be hurt during the process. But I also know that the cost of the time, man-power, overtime and whatever else is considered “costs of doing business” will be astronomical!

However, I just can’t let it go there. First, we now know that this woman who was a supervisor in the Tailor Shop, “befriended” these guys and gave them things they needed to make their escape. And I, for one can’t figure out why she isn’t in jail for a long, long time! We stop little old ladies who go 10 miles over the speed limit. And we put young men in prison who steal a pack of cigarettes. But this terrible woman is being treated with kid gloves.

Here is another thought that is driving me nuts, did you know that these convicted, and the word is convicted, murderers were allowed to wear civilian clothes except for their pants. And this is amazing to me, their cells are not searched on a regular basis and do you know why? Because it might infringe on their civil rights! See, I thought if you were convicted of murdering someone and chopping them up into pieces, you no longer had any civil rights! We stopped using the stocks because it infringed on someone’s rights, bur I think for many of the lawbreakers it worked then and would work now. And it was certainly a lot cheaper! Silly me, I thought that you had civil rights if you earned them by being a good citizen not just guaranteed them by being born. And what about the civil rights of the poor victim who got chopped up?

Now, finally, here is my last big question, how did those guys get power tools into their cell? I do understand that without having their cell searched, they could hide them from the guards and prison officials. But when my husband uses power tools to cut tiles or bricks, he uses them outdoors and still I have to close the door to keep the horrendous noise outside. Are you telling me that these men used their tools to cut through bricks and steel pipes and no one heard any noise? If they did, we should figure out how to hire them to work for the government because they obviously are clever enough to do it silently!

What really sends me over the hill isn’t that these guy are still at large. It is a huge area they have to cover to try and find them, if they are even in the right area. Nope, now it is the money that it is costing you and me for total incompetence by someone. I will bet by the time this is over the cost to you and me could have built a lot of bridges or paved a lot of roads. But no fear, the government will figure out how to pay for it…they will just raise our taxes!