Sheriff David Clarke got virtually a free ride from the media when conditions in the county jail — which he runs — were deemed so bad that the county was held in contempt of court.
And God knows what the County Board was thinking when it took the messed-up House of Correction and gave it to Clarke to run. As bad as the previous House administration may have been, Clarke is bound to make matters worse. The man is a disaster.
Now comes the news that Clarke and team are refusing to release the autopsy report on Marshall Wilburn, a homeless man with tuberculosis who died in the Houe, for totally specious reasons. The death has not been ruled one of natural causes, according to Clarke spokeswoman Kim Brooks. Wilburn also may have died of something else, she said.
So what if either of those things were true? Let’s say Wilburn was murdered — do the investigators at the Sheriff’s Department think that making that information public will give secret information to the murderer that he (or she) can use to his advantage? And if Wilburn died of a heart attack instead of TB — why on earth wouldn’t you just say so?
Let’s hear it for Mayor Tom Barrett, who says the he will seek legal action to go after the records if Clarke doesn’t cough them up.
Meanwhile, there are 300 people wondering about their health who could potentially be reassured by a little information that Clarke doesn’t want to give them.
It is really surprising someone as small-minded as Clarke could have a brain cramp this large — it seems to defy the laws of nature.
Wilburn was sent to to the Housel to ensure he took his medication because he had contagious TB. The JS today reported that he was in his isolation cell when he died, so at least he was not in the general population. He apparently required assistance with many tasks, though, like getting his own food. He had enough contact with enough people to require that 300(!) of them be kept under at least minimal medical observation. Isolating individuals with tuberculosis is not unusual and their are safety precautions that can be taken to minimize the risk to workers. Here’s a piece related to nursing precautions, but surely the basic precautions discussed in it should have been in place at the House.
But I’ll just betcha they weren’t.
Will Clarke skate again?
Tags: Clarke, House of Correction, Wilburn
Of course he will, just like Walker has been skating all these years. The local paper is not a newspaper. It’s not much more than a press release outlet.
Besides, you can’t expect them to cover every story. They need room to tell us how great they are.
fwiw, could be suicide, more likely than murder. Of course the main point is Clarke just trying to cover up his own dept’s failings, as you note . . .
Clarke’s political fate was sealed when former Republican Congressman Mark Neumann indicated he would be running for Governor in the September 2010 Republican primary.
The ONLY reason Clarke was able to survive his challenge from a real Democrat (former police leutenant and judge Vince Bobot) was Republican cross-over votes in the 2008 primary.Republicans had no contests on their side of the ballot. As instructed by talk show host Charlie Sykes, they crossed over to vote for Clarke in the Democratic primary.
Won’t happen in 2010 if Republicans have a hot race of their own for Governor. Clarke is toast.