BOSTON (MA)
Foster's Daily Democrat
BOSTON (AP) — Former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger has resigned in frustration as head of the panel appointed by Gov. Mitt Romney to reform the state's prison system, saying the governor has neglected the issue as he contemplates a run for president.
Harshbarger said too little has been done since the death behind bars of convicted pedophile and former priest John Geoghan in August 2003, allegedly at the hands of a convicted murderer.
The death led to widespread calls for a top-to-bottom prison review, including inmate assignment policies, after it was disclosed that low-risk offenders are sometimes housed alongside the state's most hardened criminals.
"I can feel it this fall: There has not been a sense of urgency," Harshbarger told The Boston Globe. "I don' see it in the executive. I don't see it in the Legislature. I don't see it in the agencies. I don't see the focus."