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Show bc gait November Sunday Morning 27, 1983 Page 16 Section A True Parity, Not Escalation Key to Missile Dilemma The trouble with a bargaining chip strategy is that it can be played by both sides. When the chips are advanced nuclear weapons, the resultn increases the danger ing of nuclear war manyfold. be forced into adopting a launch on warning strategy, a situation that allows no room for mistakes, accidental or otherwise. Publicly, the administration is taking the position that the Soviet The Reagan administrations reli- Union will blink yet and that in any ance on deployment of Pershing 2 event, most of its counter-measurand cruise missiles in Western Eu-- . were planned or in actual effect berope to force Soviet concessions must fore the U.S. missiles began arriving at this point be judged a failure that in Britain and Germany in the past Soviet raises the war scare ante. No matter two weeks. Nuclear-arme- d alwere for how calmly the Whi ? House is react- submarines, example, acU.S. off stationed coasts, ing to the Soviet walkout at the Inter- ready mediate Nuclear Forces negotiations cording to unnamed Navy sources. In at Geneva and Soviet President Yuri that event, the Soviet riposte is at V. Andropovs promised measures to worst an increase in existing danger. counter the U.S. arms buildup, the But there is small comfort in that. fact is that a highly dangerous escaStanding back from this distressit belation of the nuclear arms race is ing nuclear comes clear that the new impasse is under way. Instead of being cowed into re- not so much a failure of negotiating se but reflects a frusducing their intermediate range mis- stretegy per sile force based in the Soviet Union trating inability on the part of both imand aimed at Western Europe, the sides to define nuclear parity and to at levels their less it risky Soviets have chosen to respond to the plement mutual good. staand cruise missiles l?y Pershings The.briginal North Atlantic Treasubmationing more nuclear-arme- d rines off the American coasts and ty Organization request for. U.S. moving missiles into Eastern Euro- siles was based on an assessment of Soviet power which found the Westpean satellite countries. ' !' ern allies at a disadvantage: But the The vaunted bargaining chip Soviet Union has steadfastly mainappears to have passed to Moscows tained that the .existence of indepenside of the table. The Soviet price for dent British and French nuclear returning to the Geneva negotiations forces assure a rough equality which and withdrawing its nuclear subs and the new U.S. missiles are Eastern European missiles is aban- and which the Soviets mustupsetting now redonment of the Pershing and cruise store. missile deployment. If that price is Continuation of tit for tat excala-tio- n paid by an embarrassed United predicated on the original conStates, the nuclear balance presumtradictory power assessments invites ably would revert to the status which the Western al- disaster. There can be no advantage or security for either $ide in additionlies view as favoring the Soviets. al nuclear fierce. That reality is so If the Soviet terms are not met, stark and so Commanding that it and they do not belatedly elect to must eventually force a resumption bend to the Reagan pressure, the of serious bilateral talks to establish world is moved another notch closer a fair and less dangerous NATO-Sovito nuclear war by accident. Because force equality. But the unanswerof the short flight time of the interm- able question remains: will there be ediate-range missiles, both sides enough time? could face-dow- es pre-Pershi- et Save This Poppy A rare, tissue-lik- e flower, the dwarf bearclaw poppy, will disappear without the support of Utah citizens. Its critical that Utahns, as the guardians of a unique, desert rally around efforts by the Utah Division of State Lands and Forestry to protect the delicate species. The beautiful white poppy holds a dubious distinction as Utahs most endangered plant. Only 2,000 or 3,000 soil of still grow in the gypsum-ric- h southern Utah, near St. George and Unplanned developBloomington. ment and land transfers between the state and federal governments could wipe the desert flowers from the face of the earth. Only eight of the plants are strictly protected by the federal government. Most of the plants grow on less d land, where restrictive, vehid and other motorcycles cles have worn paths among the bushy plants and crushed the flowers into the ground. ' The State Land Board is expected to consider proposals for protecting the poppy next month. State lands officials are promoting the creation of areas of critical environmental concern where gypsum mining and offroad vehicles would be restricted. It would be the first time Utah lands eco-sys-te- were set aside for endangered species. Whether the land board adopts its staffs recommendations or some suitable alternative, something must be done to preserve the endangered flower in its natural context. Intelligent humans are obligated to protect nature for future generations. Who chemiknows? Some cal may be found in the plant someday, adding practical benefit to the state-owne- pure beauty and enjoyment created by the plant. off-roa- Random Shots Stout-Heart- ed Men Theres a strange and aggravating psychological need in the minds of many Utah men, and some women, to get there first, wherever and however dangerous that may be. An increasingly irritating example of that can be seen almost constantly on eastbound between the State Street and 7th East exits. Regardless of the road conditions or the time of day, the far left lane, which ends after a quarter-mil- e warning, compels macho men to risk life and limb to race ahead of the cars in front of them to squeeze into the middle lane at the last minute. Lookmiring neither right nor m their rear-vierors to see how many people they ran off the road, they calmly wend their way over to the extreme right lane to catch the next exit. w Thanks , Anyway It had about it the appearance of of citizen's arrest. Not that an arrest was made, because one wasn't. But what the concerned downtown Salt Lake City pedestrian tried to point out to the policeman sitting nearby in a patrol car was that a thoughtless motorist had parked so inconsiderately that his vehicle was actually occup-ma good portion of two parking places The meter had been fed, but only one curbside spot could be used A traffic ticket seemed in order. The policemen answered he had other, more important matters to handle at that particular moment It was a decent attempt anyway The citizen, although he achieved little or no immediate action, deserves the appreciation of every driver who has circled new-kin- g ) or will circle downtown blocks, fruitlessly seeking a streetside place to conveniently leave the car while running a shopping or business errand. Hats Off to Chris Chris Ritzakis deserves community commendation for helping Utahns not only the lonely and needy but also those who merely worry about the hungry enjoy their Thanksgiving dinners for 11 years. By assuming a larger and larger share of the responsibility for feeding transients and other Utahns on the holiday, the owner of the Redwood Inn has warmed the hearts and relieved the consciences of many who regretfully fail to indulge in the same generosity. May the Greek immigrant never go hungry or lonely again. Best By Damsite Remember how the state, a few years ago, designed a new scenic license plate complete with the slogan, The Best in the West. Many citizens objected and the plan and colorful license plates were shelved. Perhaps it is nearly time to try out a new scenic license plate. If Utah officials are successful in convincing the federal government that it should pay its majority share for a whole Central Utah Project, complete with the several artificial lakes envisioned in the scheme's totality, perhaps a color plate could be designed with a Utah family having a soiree on a houseboat or a water skier and a speed boat, along with the slogan The Dam State. Tribune Editorials Letters Common Carrier Local Jails Suffer From Overcowding By Leslie Maitland Werner New York Times Service The overcrowding that long has afflicted the nations state and federal prisons now is common among local jails as well. The release this month of 610 inmates by the New York City jail officials was but the latest sign of a growing trend. Prisoners lately have been released in such cities as Chicago, Pittsburgh, Grand Rapids, Mich., and in Hudson County, N.J. Around the country, lawsuits brought on behalf of inmates have resulted in court orders demanding that local officials remedy conditions in jammed, makeshift jails. Lacking other remedies, many officials have chosen simply to reduce the number of prisoners by freeing some. Local jails hold suspects awaiting trial on state charges and people convicted of misdemeanors; most are imprisoned less than a year. But the duration of their confinement has had little, if any, effect on the way courts are ruling on their situations. In fact, many of the recent lawsuits have been brought by pretrial detainees, and courts have stressed that as an extra reason why their treatment should be improved. A judge in Georgia, for example, criticizing jail conditions there, said pretrial detainees have been convicted of no wrongdoing and thus merit no punishment whatever. Experts and officials say jail overcrowding is a result of several factors. They say the police are making more arrests, judges have been stricter in sentencing and setting bail and communities have been reluctant to build new jails and prisons. Moreover, packed state prisons often send their overflow to lc.al jails. Edward I. Koren of the American Civil Liberties Unions National Jail Project says judges in some states are now required to consider the room available in local jails in sentencing and bail deliberations. According to a survey last year by the National Sheriffs Association, 10.7 percent of the 2,664 of the local jail officials who responded said they were under court order involving overcrowding and related conditions. Almost 16 percent were recently subject to an order, and almost 20 percent were involved in lawsuits. In fact, Justice Department officials say, the overcrowding of state prisons is worsening problems for county sheriffs and jail officials. According to Carol Kalish, chief of data analysis for the Bureau of Justice Statistics, prisons in 39 states are either under court order or in litigation. As a result, she said, state prison officials are increasingly attempting to put their overflow in county jails. "In 1982, the most recent survey showed, 17 states had a combined total of 8,217 state prisoners housed in local jails because the state prison system was overcrowded, Miss Kalish said. That was the highest number WASHINGTON ft its been in the seven years weve been collecting the data. Among the worst cases, she said, were New Jersey, with 1,584 state prisoners in local jails; Alabama, with 1,286, and Lousiana, with 1,499. In New Jersey, a Superior Court judge in Hudson County found that state officials had becompounded unlawful overcrowding cause prisoners sentenced to state correctional institutions were not being removed by the state, thereby aggravating the overcrowding problem. He ordered them removed at scheduled intervals. An Arkansas sheriff dramatized his problem in 1981 when he took 19 state prisoners from his overcrowded county jail and chained them to the fence of the state prison in Little Rock. Like many court cases involving jails, however, the case brought here in Washington was on behalf of unconvicted pretrial detainees. The National Coalition on Jail Reform, an umbrella organization including the American Bar Association, the ACLU and the National Sheriffs Association, reports pretrial detainees make up 40 percent of the inmates confined to jails. The rest of the jail inmates are generally serving sentences of less than a year for convictions of state or local violations or misdemeanors. According to Judith Johnson, director of the National Coalition for Jail Reform, 70 percent of the 6.2 million local do not provide work or counseling for prison- ers. Mrs. Johnson said only 13 of the nearly, 3,500 jails had been accredited by the American Correctional Association. Prisoners in 8li percent of the jails live in cells that do not; meet the national standard of 60 square feet, mat-- , of room, the size pf two double-be- d , tresses, she said. , According to the most recent survey of , the country's 100 largest jails conducted by, the Bureau of the Census in June 1982, 49 of them had inmate populations that exceeded' their rated capacity. The largest of them, the Central Jail in Los Angeles County, haj more than 1,000 prisoners over its rated capacity, and many smaller facilities were similarly taxed. The situation comes as no surprise to, Mrs. Johnson, who says jails annually admit 17 times the number of inmates in state and federal prisons. She and representatives of many public interest groups believe that the number is unnecessarily high and that new alternatives should be developed instead of simply building new jail space, which now is estimated to cost more than $50,000 a cell. But, lacking alternatives and facing court action, more and more localities are resorting to prisoner releases. The practice was upheld in July by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago, in a case initiated by pretrial detainees in Cook County Jail.. d The court said a monitor found the county had failed to meet its goals after a consent decree last year. More than 400 inmates were found sleeping on the floor, a large number without mattresses or blankets, the court said jailings last year involved nonviolent court-appointe- crimes, including public drunkenness. Nonetheless, the coalition has found that jail inmates generally live under harsher conditions than convicted felons in state prisons. Jails, designed for short stays, often lack recreational or medical facilities and (Copyright) Stalinism Revisited The Growing KGB Practice of Torture By Peter Reddaway Special to The Washington Post Is the Soviet regime edging its way back toward Stalinism? Is that the message conveyed by its current campaigns to tighten social discipline, crush dissent, regiment the working class, tough things out with the West and glorify the KGB? A new signal from Moscow strengthens the case for answering yes. Soviet dissidents have just called on the West to speak out against the growing KGB practice of using physical torture. They believe the practice may recently have been authorized by the government. This development evokes the year 1937, when, at the height of Stalins terror, the regime legalized torture for the first time. After Stalins death in 1953, torture was outuntil recently lawed. Since then it has been a rare, localized phenomenon, usually applied by overzealous or sadistic officials. The only setting in which it has been used with drugs as the instrusystematically is the mental hospital, to which per-- , ment sistent critics are sometimes consigned as lunatics. The new trend is to use physical coercion increasingly often and, significantly, against dissidents who are well known abroad. This means, at the very least, that the torture of particular individuals if not torture in genermust have been approved by the highal est political level. It also suggests that the Kremlin has reconciled itself in advance to bad publicity and heightened criticism of its practices abroad. ble people with long experience of what it means to dissent in Russia. They draw attention to three recent cases of special note. The first involving a computer specialist who worked in a government ministry, Alexei Smirnov was men range of psychological, then physical pressures on him and his family. These provoked him into periodic hunger strikes, his only means of protest. According to Dr. William Knaus of Washington, this condition requires careful treatment if a fatal outcome is to be avoided. A controlled replace ment of essential minerals and proteins is needed, to put right the serious imbalances in the body. A normal prison diet could easily result in death. However, the latest news from Christo-po- l indicates a progression to outright torture. Koryagin has reportedly now been beaten with great severi ty. And during the beating the authorities deliberately left the cell window open, so that his screams could be heard far and wide. Apparently the regime now needs a recantation from Koryagin more than ever. It wants to be able to tell the Soviet people and The writer is a British specialist in Soviet politics. the world medical community that the U.S.S.R. was forced out of the World Psychiatric Association this year only because, e g., Koryagin wrote a lot of slanderous statements about Soviet psychiatry statements the Western imperialists paid him to write. The third victim is Sergei Khodorovich, who for six years was the publicly announced administrator of the Russian Social Fund. This fund has provided material aid to political prisoners and their families since 1974. In April Khodorovich, a computer scientist, was arrested in Moscow and charged with treason. The basis of the charge was the KGBs assertion that the fund is financed by the CIA. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the fund's founder, has denounced this assertion as a deliberate lie. He points to his repeated statements that all the fund's resources come from the royalties on his book, The Gulag Archipelago," and that the fund itself is under the jurisdiction of the Swiss government. Recently Khodorovichs wife was in- formed by an apparently trustworthy source that her husband had been beaten up m Moscows Butyrka prison, and he now had a fractured skull. He had also been told that if he went on pleading not guilty to the charge of treason, he would be beaten continuously until he changed his mind. - Why incur such odium? The main aims of the policy are, it seems clear, to obtain confessions of guilt from the victims, and also tioned in the Western press earlier this year. He was beaten in prison on 30 successive and all othto intimidate their associates into submission. These goals occasions, but refused to plead guilty and er dissidents sentence for editing the received a evidently have a high priority. The most conA venient way of letting all dissidents know longstanding human rights journal, ChronEvents. of Current icle on about the policy is to practice it promiThe second victim is Anatoly Koryagin, nent individuals. This will provoke foreign publicity, which in turn will be picked up by aged 45, a psychiatrist from Kharkov. For Western radio stations and broadcast into his detailed public criticism of the political abuse of psychiatry, Koryagin was given 12 every corner of the U.S.S R. in Russian. of prison and exile in 1981. Later he The dissidents who have just appealed to years was widely honored in Western countries for In the named. be to do not wish West the his courage, and this year the World Psychipresent oppressive atmosphere, they justifiatric Association elected him an honorary identities their arrest. fear However, ably are known both to the experienced traveler member For two years after his arrest, the KGB who met them and brought out their orai tried to get him to recant by exerting a wide messages, and to myself They are responsi I |
