Shackles

It was barely 50 years ago in Germany that Joseph Goebbels became minister for propaganda and enlightenment. In that capacity he helped orchestrate Hitler's demonic rise and control through his brilliance as a propagandist who ensured that nothing was seen, heard or reported through the media that didn't support his fuhrer's growing political base. With firm control of the press he deftly suppressed the truth, cleverly supplanted a myth, and effectively hid the growing atrocities of National Socialism from the German people and the world.

The current attacks on public radio and television seem to be almost fun for some, like the singsong taunts of children in the school playground: Public broadcasting is biased. Public broadcasting shouldn't be supported by the government. Public broadcasting is a spendthrift. Public broadcasting is just for the rich and nobody else likes it. Nyah, nyah, teacher's pet. American public radio and television are too important to be made a scapegoat or a symbol of impending federal frugality.

The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday sued Chester County prison officials in federal court, alleging that inmates awaiting trial for drunken driving are being illegally "shackled" to beds for more than a week at a time while undergoing detoxification. The suit was filed on behalf of Robert H. Wilson, a Chester County resident who was arrested for drunken driving last Jan. 2 and kept shackled by the arms and legs to a bed in the prison infirmary for about 12 days. Wilson had to "beg" to go to the bathroom, was not allowed to exercise or make phone calls and was not "given anything to assist him to pass the time," the suit alleges.

Alleged cop-killer Rasheed Scrugs was caught trying to undo his shackles with a paper clip before a court appearance earlier this week, authorities said. The career criminal, who allegedly gunned down Officer John Pawlowski in 2009, made the daring move on Tuesday, after corrections officers had taken him from the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility to an area hospital for a medical procedure, said city prison spokesman Robert Eskind. "He went in for a procedure, signed some paperwork and got back in the [prison]

The Woodrow Wilson High School students tumbled into the cavernous audiovisual arts room, slumping back in the folding chairs in typical teenage posture. They chattered and laughed and paid no mind to the orange-jacketed security guards. They thought this was just another class. Then, Wayne Smith strode to the front of the room. He stood, ramrod straight and unsmiling in his perfectly creased blue uniform, the uniform of a New Jersey State Prison Correctional Officer. His muscular arms shot out in front of him, jerking a length of metal chains taut.

The tiny shackles - once used to confine a child, now rusted and powerless - drew horrified gasps. A woman was almost brought to tears by photographs of black men, whip-scarred or hanging limply, and smiling white faces behind them. "I just can't believe one human could treat another human this way," said Carmen Biollo, 29, looking away from the photographs. "In school, we touched on slavery briefly but you don't really see it. I've never seen photos like this before. It doesn't make sense to me. " Biollo, of Philadelphia, was one of hundreds of people who marked the end of Black History Month yesterday with a visit to the Independence Visitor Center's black history showcase, which included appearances by the Tuskegee Airmen and players from the Negro Leagues' Philadelphia Stars.

State officials are quietly investigating disciplinary procedures used at the Bensalem Youth Development Center (YDC) after allegations that youths in the facility are being shackled, in direct violation of a class-action lawsuit settled in 1993. On at least two separate occasions in the last eight months, in February and in August, YDC staffers shackled inmates with leg irons after disturbances, according to Guy Vilim, the Philadelphia lawyer who won the 1993 settlement. The state-operated YDC, a maximum-security facility that houses some of Pennsylvania's most violent underage offenders, has been plagued with problems in recent years, including escapes, assaults between inmates and staffers, and reports of drug use by staffers and inmates.

When a band transforms itself stylistically, not all fans are going to take the leap of faith. Thursday night at the Theatre of Living Arts, you could sense Promise Ring devotees checking out during an hour-long set in which the band treated its straight-and-narrow pop-punk like an afterthought in order to focus on the moody, slow-burning pop of its accomplished new Wood/Water. The Milwaukee quintet tried to free itself from the shackles of its emo-core beginnings with tact. When a fan yelled for a chestnut such as "Everywhere in Denver," singer-guitarist Davey von Bohlen (who played acoustic guitar most of the night)

A federal judge yesterday ordered the state to remove cuffs and shackles from prisoners at Camp Hill and provide them with "basic necessities" such as toilet paper. Questioning the constitutionality of actions taken by the state Corrections Department in the aftermath of the Camp Hill riots, U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo imposed a series of deadlines on the state for improving living conditions for the 1,501 inmates remaining at the prison. "The court believes the continued use of shackles is not necessary," Rambo wrote.

A correctional officer has been arrested in the beating of a shackled inmate, as part of a prisons investigation by the district attorney's office. DA's spokeswoman Laura Linton said Clyde Gainey, 33, a sergeant-supervisor, had been identified by another prisoner as among those who beat and kicked William Kennedy, 28, last Feb. 16. Gainey is the 11th guard among 16 persons arrested since the DA's prison probe was announced March 15. The others included both inmates and civilian prison employees.

SCRANTON - Police have found a man who walked out of a hospital in leg irons after a suspected DUI crash. Scranton Police Chief Dan Duffy said he was investigating how Blaise Melofchik, 29, was able to walk away from a medical center Wednesday. Police say Melofchik was apprehended at his parents' house Thursday morning, about 24 hours after his escape. He had been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after police said he crashed into a parked car. Officers took him to the hospital after they said he appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

Once again, Michael Nutter is not messin' around. You know he's not playing when he pulls out the black vernacular. And there was a whole lot of it during his 30-minute rant - I mean, sermon - from behind the pulpit to a packed congregation Sunday at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in West Philadelphia. Disgusted by the mobs of African American youths who have been terrorizing folks in City Center lately, he gave the black community a good old-fashioned whipping. I could almost hear my grandmother say, "Get me a switch!"

Alleged cop-killer Rasheed Scrugs was caught trying to undo his shackles with a paper clip before a court appearance earlier this week, authorities said. The career criminal, who allegedly gunned down Officer John Pawlowski in 2009, made the daring move on Tuesday, after corrections officers had taken him from the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility to an area hospital for a medical procedure, said city prison spokesman Robert Eskind. "He went in for a procedure, signed some paperwork and got back in the [prison]

PORT RICHMOND community leaders have the city's Department of Licenses & Inspections on speed dial. They know Water Department clerks by name after regularly calling to report broken pipes in the rickety rental houses in their neighborhood. They e-mail lists of abandoned properties to City Council. Community leaders want the city to force real-estate mogul Robert N. Coyle Sr. and other alleged slumlords to maintain their rental houses and adhere to city laws. It should be simple.

I'm sitting in a 100-year-old, concrete-slabbed classroom, deep within the bowels of Sing Sing maximum-security prison in New York. I have just met Jose, Orlando, "Shorty," and 11 other men dressed in green uniforms. Each has served between 15 and 32 years. I recount my story - the moment that defined me as a man - and how it led me to the Good Men Project, an initiative my business partner and I began to foster a national discussion about what it means to be a good man. I have come to Sing Sing to make a point.

Eagles 'no pushover' The Philadelphia Eagles helped the Arizona Cardinals create the perfect scenario for themselves. After defeating the Carolina Panthers Saturday night, all the Cards needed was the Eagles to walk into the Meadowlands and beat the No. 1-seed New York Giants. . . . It happened. The Arizona Cardinals are not only playing in their first NFC championship in the Super Bowl era, they are hosting the game as well, a scenario quite improbable when the playoffs started.

Tiffany Wilder went to church in South Philadelphia yesterday and experienced a life-altering moment - not with the Lord, but with the Philadelphia court system. Wilder was among 151 people with 220 outstanding criminal warrants who turned themselves in on the first day of Fugitive Safe Surrender, a four-day program to induce nonviolent Philadelphia offenders to submit to the law in the sanctuary of a religious institution. Wilder, 25, was wanted for failing to show at an April court hearing on an auto-theft charge.

Six days after fleeing to Miami, John Lewis, the North Philadelphia man charged with murder in last week's shooting of Police Officer Chuck Cassidy, returned home yesterday afternoon with his hands and feet in shackles. A team of five Philadelphia homicide detectives escorted Lewis from Miami, an undertaking with at least two symbolic touches: The suspect was secured with the dead officer's handcuffs, and the police wagon that spirited him to police headquarters was assigned to the 35th Police District - the murdered officer's precinct.

Six days after fleeing to Miami, John Lewis, the North Philadelphia man charged with murder in last week's shooting of Police Officer Chuck Cassidy, returned home yesterday afternoon with his hands and feet in shackles. A team of five Philadelphia homicide detectives escorted Lewis from Miami, an undertaking with at least two symbolic touches: The suspect was secured with the dead officer's handcuffs, and the police wagon that spirited him to police headquarters was assigned to the 35th Police District - the murdered officer's precinct.

The clattering shackles failed to overpower the wedding bells - even if they were only in the minds of the couple. Yesterday, in a triumph of the ties that bind in marriage, an unorthodox sequence unfolded in Chester County Court: A prisoner pleaded guilty, got sentenced, and then got hitched. The honeymoon is on hold. The groom, Akram Rahan Jones, 26, of Philadelphia, a self-professed poet and repeat felon, will first spend 10 to 20 years in jail. President Judge Paula Francisco Ott approved the terms of a plea bargain that was almost as unusual as the nuptials: a three-for-one deal that combined an assault of an inmate at Chester County Prison, participation in an aborted prison riot, and conspiracy to kill a Coatesville man. The bride, Cassandra LaFortune, 25, of Philadelphia, listened intently - but without surprise.