We cant bring back yesterday. What we do today is all that counts. Tomorrow might not ever come. Monday morning quarterbacking is always easier than playing the game. The prison guard is dead.
I want to base my article on what I think was a preventable death of Correction Officer Jamie Bindle. She was murdered on the job by Byron Scherf. He was serving a life sentence for rape and I am not sure what else. He had nothing to lose. He hid in the chapel and waited for her. I want to state very clearly I don’t know a thing about the rules and regulation of the prison system or its Correction Officer. I am doing “independent thinking’ how yesterdays laws and rules and protections all failed. This is hypothetical and I am not faulting anyone. But the first thing that comes to mind is how did a beautiful little blond female get the job of guarding a chapel full of THREE STRIKE RAPISTS and other criminals? This is where the laws and rules come in. I think she got her job because some law said she was entitled to it as much as a man. If she had been turned down all sorts of Agencies would have jumped in and raised a big stink. I don’t know the exact names but this is close enough, Human rights, Female rights, discrimination rights, Equal Opportunity all fight to make sure a female can be a fireman or policeman or anything that a man can. They can train, they can be smart but they can never be equal to a man when brute force is needed. You cant train to be taller, or fight like a man. But we learned that yesterday in her case. She was an accident waiting to happen and she had expressed her fear, but she had a job and had to stick to it. I am a 4′ 11′ female(really old and grey now) but I could not train to be a nurse or be a WAAC in WWII because you had to be 5’7″ to be strong enough to lift patients. I understood that. No law could make be bigger or make them let me join.
Why do these losers get to leave their cells and go to a chapel? I suppose all sorts of laws about religion come in to play. That rapist did not need to go to the Chapel. He could say his “I lay me down to sleep” prayer right by his steel bunk with bars on his door. If God was supposed to hear him he would. I have a feeling while he was hiding in the chapel waiting to rape and murder her if someone had offered a prayer, he would have said “go ahead and pray but do it quietly so you don’t disturb me”. He was busy planning his evening FUN. He had absolutely nothing to lose. He had his pants down. If it had been a 250 lb male on duty “yesterday” she would be alive “today”.
If you had a room full of ordinary people, no lawmakers and asked if a beautiful little blond female should be put in charge of a chapel full of life sentence criminals they would all say NO. It did not have to happen. Byron Scherf says he did it, says wants to die for doing it but now comes in some more rules/laws that says he has to have a trial. This is nothing more than an employment agency for lawyers it seems.
About Lilly Marek
Having lived in Seattle (Georgetown) for over 80 years, Lilly has a passion for the area. A true Seattleite, Lilly has the history & experience to discuss any topic. Being retired, she enjoys visiting with her many grand children, gardening, and writing.
