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Trib Watch: Tamms Year Ten responds to flawed article
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On Saturday, the Tamms Year Ten committee sent a message on its mailing list about the Tribune story I had critiqued a day earlier, urging supporters to go on the Trib's Web site and comment on the story.
We really appreciate the fact that the Tribune investigated life inside the supermax. The story depicts the isolation, the desperation, the prevalence of mental illness, and the brutality of this supermax. It is ghastly.
However, this is a complex issue, and so short a story is misleading in a number of ways.[...]
We need everyone to help set the record straight, and show the Tribune that citizens want the full story about Tamms, and humanize the issue.
I exchanged e-mails with Laurie Jo Reynolds of Tamms Year Ten, who wrote:
You know, I spoke to that Tribune reporter like every day for a month about the article — he got me to do tons of research, etc. And, he interviewed the John Howard Association who supports this bill and made a report recommending legislative oversight. But he never quoted either of us — just choice opinions from the [Illinois Department of Corrections]. It is really bizarre and unbalanced.I think once they got in the prison, they just made the story, "Look how great we are, we got in the prison where there are child rapists and murderers."
More on prison reform:
- Cook County detainees detail strip search indignities in lawsuit
- Lisa Madigan urged to probe Burge torture cases
