Enquirer: We Know More About Jails Than State Inspectors

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[Update: It looks like the Enquirer's thin-skinned editorial page editor, David Wells, won't publish my comment on the Enquirer's blog. No problem. Its their blog, and they have a right to publish or reject comments. (It would be nice if they'd quit pretending to be accessible to people with differing viewpoints though.) Most of my rebuttal of Wells is included in my latest blog entry entitled "Enquirer's David Wells Telling Big Lies." Check it out.]

Does anybody believe that the Cincinnati Enquirer editorial board knows more about jail facilities than State inspectors from the Ohio Bureau of Adult Detention?

Let me guess what happened.... Members of the Enquirer editorial board (they still have a token Negro on the editorial board don't they) have been reading the Cincinnati Black Blog and The Cincinnati Beacon. They are jail hawks. They want a new jail. They need a justification for a new jail. They need people to believe that the County's jail facilities, especially the Queengate jail (which they want to close), are old, outmoded, inadequate, crumbling, and literally falling down. They want the public to believe that Queensgate is a dungeon and that holding people there is inhumane. Before the invent of the new media, there'd be no good way for people like me and the 3 white guys who run the Beacon to give the public the other side of the story the truth. The old media hates that we've published stories pointing out that the experts who inspect jails in Ohio have repeatedly and consistently found that Queensgate complies with all State standards. [link, link, link] Queensgate just passed an inspection in February! (Click here to read the report yourself.) Since they couldn't find any facts to support their argument for closing Queensgate, the Enquirer decided to, uh... make some up.

In, "A walk through the Queensgate jail," the Enquirer editorial board took a stroll through Queensgate and whaddaya know?! According to them, Queensgate is old, outmoded, and crumbling. Surprise, surprise. How do they explain the fact that the Ohio Bureau of Adult Detention, the agency responsible for annual inspection of jail facilities in Ohio inspected Queensgate in February and it passed in every category established by the State? Uh, they don't. And why should they? Who cares about little pesky facts, worthless inspections, or anything that could stand in the way of Portune, Pepper and Simon Leis getting their hands on $1 Billion. Portune and Pepper know what's good for the voters. And the Enquirer knows about jail inspections. (We don't need no stinkin' inspectors!!!)

I think it's important to point out that the people on our side who oppose the jail do so based on research and facts. Our opponents, on the other hand, use emotion, distortion, mischaracterizations, and outright lies. Considering that the condition of the County's jail facilities, especially Queensgate and the Justice Center, are central to the debate over whether we need a new jail or not, why would anyone have to visit the Cincinnati Beacon to get copies of jail inspection reports? Why aren't they in the Enquirer's "data center"? Where is the Enquirer's investigative reporter, Greg KKKorte, to cut through the spin and opinions and give us the facts on the facilities? Who is right? The Enquirer editorial board or the State inspectors? Where is the Cincinnati Post? The Cincinnati Business Courier? The Cincinnati Herald? CityBeat? The I-Team? While we argue with facts, statistics, logic, and reason, the other side hasn't given one good, logical reason why Queensgate should be closed. And they can't. Because no good reason exists for closing it. [Update: The Cincinnati Beacon has linked to this blog entry and added a good observation that: "It seems that only people who already support the new jail plan are invited to tour the place." They suggest opponents and new media advocates should also be allowed to tour these public facilities. Click here to read the whole story.]

Reading the Enquirer is funny at times, especially the opinion section. The other day while reading the letters to the editor I noticed they published one written by someone who lives in West Chester (which for you non-geography majors is not in Hamilton County) giving their opinion on the sales tax increase. They don't live here and don't have a vote, so why would the Enquirer publish their letter? Well, because the writer agreed with the paper's position, that's why. (You better quit asking so many questions, MISTER!) The Enquirer does this all the time. During the Cincinnati City Council budget hearings, they would publish letters from people living in Kentucky, Indiana or the suburbs. The paper isn't slick. They're anticipating that most people aren't paying attention. And when they can't get good letters parroting their position, they just reach for one from anywhere. They don't care where it comes from as long as it helps them spin the public.