As we've pointed out on many occasions, sex is a neurotic obsession with prison administrator. It's so ridiculously extreme that it's almost comical. Perhaps the poor dears have very bad sex lives themselves and don't get their "MDR" (minimum daily requirement). We've also had occasion to comment on the staff at the Camp Hill state prison across the river from Harrisburg in Central Pennsylvania. That staff has the reputation for being cowardly and extreme. To many, the prison is called "Camp Hell" because it's managed so very poorly. Upwards of 4000 souls are imprisoned in SCI-Camp Hill. Many are newly committed men who still get visits. That all changes with time. The prison system tries its best to discourage visiting and rehabilitation. Within two years of imprisonment almost all men have lost visits with their loved ones. Without family support, they are almost assured of returning to crime. Visiting is stressful for all the loved ones who warily venture into the locked inner-sanctum of one of Pennsylvania's human warehouses. The visiting environment should be managed by staff members who possess at least minimal social skills and a modicum of good sense. Too often the visiting room staff is neurotic, nasty and aggressive, or worse, yet, sexually obsessed. Which brings us to a short and not unusual vignette from Camp Hill and the atmosphere of racial and sexual bigotry which exacerbates the arrogant self-importance of many prison guards. A young wife, I'll call her Pammy, visited her newly incarcerated husband. It was their tense first visit at SCI-Camp Hill. Although he's doing only a short 1 to 2 year sentence, the couple was very excited to see one another. The sergeant working in the area required the couple to sit in the so-called "hot seat," a conspicuous spot usually reserved for trouble makers. You see, Pammy and her husband are a racially mixed couple. Apparently the guard was something of a bigot. While the young people were happily having keepsake photos taken, the sergeant summoned the prisoner aside. "I saw you fondling your visitor's breasts," he charged. "We don't allow that in here!" The prisoner protested his innocence. He actually hadn't been doing anything inappropriate other than being half of a mixed couple. "Are you calling me a liar?" the guard loudly bullied. Guards get an exaggerated sense of power by cowing prisoners. At home they are usually pussy-whipped. For all the obvious reasons, the prisoner backed down. He was dismissed and returned to his wife and his seat. Thinking no more about the incident, the couple tried to enjoy their short time together. They bought ice cream and laughed together. It was a mistake for a mixed couple to be happy together at Camp Hell. The sergeant, perhaps a bit paranoid, thought they were laughing at him, an easy enough thing to do. He ordered the visit terminated and Pammy sent home. The prisoner was returned to his cell and given a write-up. His precious visits with his wife were suspended for six months! As I said, sex is a mania with Pennsylvania prisons. Pammy, being naively trusting of the justice system, still expects her husband to be paroled at the expiration of his minimum sentence. Sorry, Pammy, for a titty-touching conviction, the guy will do an extra year in prison. The Pennsylvania Parole Board doesn't like to release anyone who still has a loving wife. Perhaps marriages and families should be preserved and visiting room staff should be trained in racial tolerance as well as in social skills.