To the editors:
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On the other hand, maybe he ought to get real. He recounts his experiences as if they contain revelations about us and our society. Yet, that prison is very unpleasant, that the work world can be a Godawful grind, and that the National Guard would train its members to fight, probably don’t strike most of us as particularly unjust, much less surprising. If nuclear weapons are someday eliminated, it will probably be through the efforts of people who are rather less naive than Bean.
My biggest quarrel with Bean, however, is over his blanket condemnation of the U.S. Marshals Service. A close friend of mine is a deputy U.S. marshal. After 11 years in law enforcement and all the abuse from arrestees and the public that unavoidably carries with it, he is still calm and slow to anger. He has also escorted prisoners on the airlift, working from dawn until after dark in a single stretch of 10 to 12 hours or more.
