by Patrick Appel
A reader writes:
I lived in Charleston: the Military Brig in Charleston, South Carolina is in the town of North Charleston, SC, where the mayor drives around town with police/military scanner, heavily armed looking for crime to stop (I'm not joking). Nevermind that the Charleston airport abuts the Charleston Air Force base (home of Military airlift command) and could be secured fairly quickly. In order for a detainee to make it from the military brig to the airport, he would have to cross swampland unprepared. The area surrounding the Charleston area is cypress swamp (that goes for miles around the city) full of gators, wild hogs and poisonous snakes and the residential areas are full of people armed to the teeth (with a hair trigger, a state rep got into some hot water for getting drunk and shooting at some power line workers he thought were thieves, he wasn't charged). Keeping them there might be a good idea. They've kept Padilla and others at that Charleston brig for years with no complaint.