Merit-bound Alley

Delaware Watch is scandalized by the kind words that Stan Taylor is getting due to his retirement. I think Dana needs to see things from a different perspective.

The man’s retiring. Doesn’t that warrant a normally up-front and respectable guy like Wayne Smith to look the other way about some rather small incidents and statistics?

18 deaths a year, highest rate of AIDS deaths in the country, the Man With Two Heads; none of this seems to be a reason to make a guy feel bad when he’s retiring. So, he didn’t know that more than one inmate died every month since 2005 or that prisoners were regularly not tested for diseases such as AIDS when they are admitted. Is it his job to know every tiny detail of what goes on in the prisons he runs? Be reasonable!

Imagine the fortitude it takes to see news about your prison’s alleged “negligence” while trying to shrug off overworked guards, the rape of a counselor, and concerned family members, then dealing with a federal investigation while trying to high-tail it out of there. I mean, retire. The guy is a rock!

I mean, most people when faced with a situation like this would would go out of their minds trying to find ways to fix the situation before it got so bad that the press gets involved. Not Stan, no. Stan stuck to his guns. Stayed the course, if you will, and had the integrity to allow the press to have their day. No one in the DE government has avoided work harder in their strenuous effort to bring the ineptitude of the prison system into the public eye.

Because of Stan’s steady leadership, the federal government has been invited with open arms to take a look at our prisons and offer their advice for improvement. They don’t accept that kind of invitation from just anyone. I think it’s Stan’s record of keeping 18 prisoners per year, far more than any other state, from hitting the streets again that has won the federal government’s attention. Now Stan, his work done, will hand the reigns of leadership to another, passing also the opportunity to implement the improvements that Stan’s hard work highlighted. Stan is not only retiring, but humbly handing over glory rightfully his to another.

Now, that’s a public servant!