Only about 4 persons a month make Right-to-Know requests to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections ("DOC"). They are a lot smarter than we are. They realize that the DOC won't cooperate. If we, the public got a whiff of the corruption and abuses of the agency, we'd be outraged. To cover their butts, DOC officials simply lie and stonewall. Doctor John S. Shaffer, the Executive Deputy Secretary of the department, didn't want us to have such information as food perks given to the prison staff and the authority by which prison policies were issued. Dr. Shaffer's stonewalling is typical of the attitude of DOC for the public. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that Dr. Shaffer and his minions want to keep us from making critical facts available to the public. We know, for example that the prisons buy special foods to treat the staff. DOC simply lies and say's no such foods are bought. Admittedly, the feasts have been greatly reduced, but while prisoners receive a 35 cent a day diet of crap, the guards still get many valued treats. One of the premises of the Right-to-Know law is that the agency will cooperate and act in "good faith." That will never happen with the Pennsylvania prison system. They have too much to hide. "It's a newspaper's duty to print the news and to raise hell!" (1861) Wilbur F. Storey editor of Chicago Times You are welcome to use or republish any of our material. Please give www.prisoners.com credit as the source. Return to the Right-to-Know Menu Return to the Main Menu Go to our site's Search Engine Send us Your Comments or Input.