I have never been in a role such as these guards are in. But my question is what has happened to incessant until proven guilty. Every Guard that was there should be put on trial for murder

Sent by Jay | 3:01 PM ET | 07-03-2008

Ya know what, Ronnie White is to blame! First of all he should not had stolen a truck. If he didn't steal the truck, than he wouldn't had ran over the officer...and so on! Because of his stupidity he has taken a man away from his family and friends forever and now we have one less officer in this county to protect us. What else has Ronnie White done, any other trouble?

Sent by Michelle | 3:35 PM ET | 07-03-2008

After listening to one of the callers who was a former police officer explain that fellow colleagues were uncomfortable being the whistle blower rather than giving more information if questioned, it made me think that the police system is just as corrupted as politics or economics. With thinking that the officers are just as corrupt as the prisoners, my judgements are biased against the officers. I can't help but to think that the unspoken pact between the officers is so strong that bringing their own justice to the situation would be more possible than conflict between the prisoners.

Sent by Elaine Curtis | 3:40 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I have had the unfortuante experience of haved a family mamber incarcerated and I mm incredulous listening to the "corrections officers" talk about thier job. My personal experience has taught me that the guards - make no mistake about it, these people do precious little "correcting" - treat both inmates and their visitors with equal contempt. As a municipal official, I had some recourse to such treatment but I was appalled to see the utter contempt that these officers had toward visitors to the facility.

Sent by Steve Banko | 3:43 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I can't believe its 25 minutes into this program and nobody has talked really about the execution of 19 year old Ronnie White. This was a lynching. Straight up. Not a story about Blue Wall of Silence but the White Wall of Evasion and Incomprehension. It's not a prison story - what was that woman who wrote about solitary confinement doing on the show? And your deference to police officers and "corrections officials" (sic), was revolting in this context. Finally, your host's question: did it matter if Ronnie White killed the cop, shows how alive vigilante justice is in even liberal, educated America. What a question to ask? Of course it doesn't matter. But the culture that keeps this question alive is a killing culture, and it extends well, well beyond the confines of the prison in Prince George's County, another little den of fascism in the so-called greatest democracy in the world. I sincerely hope NPR and the usually wonderful TOTN just got off track on this one because it was a complete disgrace...

Sent by Marcus Daniel | 3:53 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I have worked in corrections for 18 years; as a Correction,Probation Officer, Jailer and Associate Warden. Most of the time I worked with sex offenders. It was not my position to cast judgement or treat differently any inmate.
Many Officers belive that they have a right to treat certain offenders different. This is encouraged by many adminstrations when the look away for small infractions.

Low pay contributes to the problem. As they say, you pay for what you get. Younger staff who have few life skills or work ethics are also at risk. In the last 18 years I have not seen any improvement.
Rosemary Seals

Sent by Rosemaary Seals | 3:56 PM ET | 07-03-2008

A corrections officer called into your program a few minutes ago and spoke about the negative public perception of prison guards. I have some sympathy for those corrections officers who take their assigned "corrective" role seriously, but I hold a strongly negative perception of the lot of them.

My father spent thirty months in prison. During that time, because of over-crowding in the prisons, he was moved from location to location, including one flight aboard "con-air." Before this flight, my father had heard from some fellow inmates that he should consider wearing earplugs becaue the plane would not be sound-proofed similarly to a commercial airliner. My father took the advice and inserted earplugs into his ears prior to being fitted with shackles. Before boarding the plane, though, the guard who was inspecting him - having him open his mouth, lift up his tongue, etc. - took notice of the earplugs, looked my father in the eye, and said, "What are these for?" Then pulled then out of his ears and threw them on the ground. The inmate inspected next by the same officer was allowed to wear his earplugs.

There are many people who will hear this story and wonder why my father was in jail. Maybe they will think that he deserved it. He did make mistakes in his life, but he was prior to his offense and is since a kind, well educated, and upstanding member of his community. He is a good man.

There are others who will defend the officer by saying that this was an isolated event, that no inmate is supposed to wear earplugs aboard those flights, that this isn't a big deal. This is the one example I am providing. There are many more stories I could tell about the mistreatment my father received while in prison. There are many more stories I could tell about mistreatment of inmates my father witnessed while in prison.

The prison system as a whole in this country is a farce. The corrections officers my father encountered in his thirty months tried harder to keep him in jail than anything else.

I had no opinion of the corrective officers before my father spent time in prison, but since then I firmly believe that the negative public perception of corrections officers in this country is legitimate.

If you read this one the air in the next few minutes, please do not read my full name in order to protect my father. Thank you.

Sent by Alec M. | 3:57 PM ET | 07-03-2008

I was an innocent person and a victim of false arrest who experienced assault and physical and verbal abuse by corrections officers while I was at the Miami-Dade Pre-trial Detention Center. I was assaulted by a corrections officer and was almost strangled to death while I was in handcuffs. I was thrown into a freezing cold small cell with four other inmates and was forced to sleep on a floor that was covered with urine, feces, water and grime. I experienced all this and more. The whole time I was in there I was never given the opportunity to make a phone call, fill out a grievance form about the physical and verbal abuse I received or see a doctor about my injuries. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. I was lucky to make it out of that terrible place alive. Something needs to be done to stop assault abuse by corrections officers.

Sent by David | 11:19 PM ET | 07-03-2008

It was not ok for any of those guards to do what they did to that man regardless of what he did. Cops and corrections officers should not have the right-of-way to do whatever they want. What is it? Eye for an eye? What gives them the right to take another mans life because he allegedly took the life of a police officer? If Ronnie White did hit that man, then the corrections officers are no different than Mr. White. Cold blooded killers. It had to be a correctional officer another prison employee hwo murdered Mr. White. Who else has access to solitary confinement in a prison? The janitors?

Sent by Junior Zuniga | 2:45 PM ET | 07-07-2008

~~drea*16*laurel m.d
FIRST OF ALL ....RONNIE DID NOT DO ANYTHING OF THA SUCH...HE STOLE NO TRUCK.HE HIT NO OFFICER HE WAS JUST ANOTHER BOY THAT THEY LOCKED UP BECAUSE THEY DIDNT KNOW WHO DID IT!!
IF PEOPLE WOULD JUST CLOSE THEIR MOUTHS AND OPEN THEIR EYES.. THIS ISNT THA 1ST TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED AND IF ITS NOT STOPED NOW IT WONT B THA LAST...
I REFUSE 2 SIT BACK AND LET PEOPLE TALKED ABOUT ONE OF MY GOOD FRIENDS..ITS HARD ENOUGH THAT HE IS GONE BUT SHOW RESPECT....
THA PEOPLE THAT SAY RONNIE DESERVED WHAT HE GOT.PUT URSELF N HIS FAMILIES SHOES,N HIS FRIENDS SHOES AND DONT SAY"O NO NOBODI I NO WOULD DO SUMTHING LIKE THAT......"and think about how u would feel if one of ur family members,close friends was a innocent man KILLED by stupid police...

Sent by drea williams | 10:44 PM ET | 07-14-2008

well why dont you put youself in the officer shoes!!! he had a wife and 2 little girls, 6 and 9!!!

and that was taken away from him when ronnie white ran him over!! and plus....i really do think he did it, because he had a criminal record, he was actually arrested in laurel in 06' for drug possession and other offenses, and even was in jail for robbery according to criminal records, so yea!!

i just feel sooo sorry 4 officer Findleys family

Sent by john | 11:49 PM ET | 07-18-2008

Well, lets put a little reality into this situation. First of all, corrections officers are not police officers. The agency that runs the jail is a completely different agency from the agency to which the slain police officer belonged. It seems unlikely that a corrections officer is going to murder an inmate as some sort of vengeance for a person they dont even know. The autopsy report describing this incident as a homicide was a preliminary report, and the final report has yet to be completed.

At this point, it appears that there are not going to be any indictments. The state attorney's office is taking a very reserved approach to this case, and have yet to state that they believe this is a homicide. The corrections officers who waited to have their Garrity Rights enacted probably took a wise course of action with regards to a highly publicized rush to judgement by politicians.

It seems to me that some people may have jumped to conclusions in this case.

Sent by Tom J | 2:38 AM ET | 07-30-2008

I am still outraged that justice has not been served in this case. Ronnie White was murdered in jail, and it was just swept under the rug.

Sent by lauren | 10:45 AM ET | 08-17-2008

I guess "innocent until proven guilty" is a one way rule. Drea, I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, but there was a witnes who put Mr. White in the driver seat when the Officer was hit and killed. I would have rather a trial have been conducted to prove this, but that point is moot. Also, I do believe that Mr. White had a long involvement with the Police. That aside, as it is not germaine right now, thes Corrections Officers deserve the same consideration you are demanding for Mr. White. They are exercising their rights to not talk to the press, just like Mr. White did; they are equally allowed to use the justice system. That the State ME has not as of 8/17 issued the final report of the cause of death, just a prelinary finding, troubles me greatly. Mostly, because if the Officers are found with out guilt, will citizens in PG County react like LA after the Rodney King verdict? I would hope for better behavior out of our citizens.

Sent by Bob | 10:57 AM ET | 08-17-2008