Source: Houston Chronicle, page 14A
(http://www.chron.com/cgibin/auth/story/content/chronicle/page1/
97/08/21/jailside.20.html)
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com

Elected officials debate treatment of prisoners

By STEVE OLAFSON and KATHY WALT

Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle

Allusions to Nazis and chicken slaughterhouses were thrown into
the fray Wednesday as elected officials debated how the treatment
of Missouri inmates at the Brazoria County Detention Center
should be viewed.

State Rep. Ron Wilson, DHouston, said in Austin that the
behavior of sheriff's deputies in the Sept. 18, 1996, incident
"was reminiscent of Hitler's Nazi camps."

"It is imperative that we maintain a strong but respectful penal
system in the state and not try to emulate Bo Pilgrim's chicken
slaughtering ranch," Wilson said, referring to the Pilgrim's
Pride chickenprocessing plant in East Texas.

"We're just lucky nobody was lynched down there," he added.
"We're lucky nobody was shot."

Wilson called the videotape of deputies and private jailers
manhandling inmates especially frightening because the officers
knew their actions were being recorded.

"There's no telling what they're doing on the streets of
Angleton" when not on camera, he said.

"Anyone can look at that tape Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Jose
Feliciano can look at that tape and see that something is
wrong."

Wilson's comments drew a rebuke from state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R
Angleton, who criticized the Houston legislator for passing
judgment without knowing all the facts.

"Ron Wilson is doing something that no politician should do. He's
trying to promote himself and create political gain when he
doesn't know the facts," Bonnen charged.

"I don't appreciate him making comments about a community, my
hometown of Angleton, that I doubt he has been to in the last
five years," he added. "The people of Angleton and the people of
Brazoria County are good people and our lawenforcement officers
are good people. They don't deserve to be compared in such a
gross way."

State Rep. Tom Uher, DBay City, whose 29th District includes
part of Brazoria County, also took issue with Wilson's remarks.

"Sometimes you can say too much. He says too much," Uher said.

He said he is convinced Brazoria County Sheriff Joe King didn't
know what was going on when officers manhandled the Missouri
inmates.

"I've known Joe King for over 20 years, and he's a class act," he
said. "I can't imagine him tolerating any heinous behavior."

Still, Uher said he was bothered by what he has seen of the
videotape that was made of the jail incident.

"I don't think it's the same as the Rodney King situation, which
was awful," he said. "What I have seen, though, I do not like."