Miami Herald Keeping Jenne's (D) Under Lock and Key

Previously in NewsBusters, PJ Gladnick and I have blogged about South Florida newspapers, such as the Miami Herald, that have left out disgraced former Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne's political affiliation. Jenne is a Democrat, and a gun control-friendly one at that (more on that after the page break).

It appears Jenne's party registration remains under lock and key at the Herald. Here's reporter Wanda J. DeMarzo's short December 6 story on Jenne being sent to a prison camp in Georgia:

Broward County's former top cop is now residing in a military-type camp in Atlanta, according to Bureau of Prison spokesman Mike Truman.

For Ken Jenne, it is a temporary assignment, said Truman, who added he could not say why the former Broward County sheriff had been shipped out of state.

Jenne had made clear through his attorney he hoped to be stationed in Florida, closer to his family. The choice is up to the Bureau of Prisons.

Jenne, who pleaded guilty to mail conspiracy charges and three counts of tax evasion, was sentenced to one year and a day by U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas Nov. 14 and was immediately taken into custody to begin serving his term.

Until Wednesday, Jenne had been serving his time at the federal detention center in Miami. He was transported from Miami to Atlanta by bus or van, most likely in the custody of U.S. marshals, Truman said.

While the records do not specify which facility in Atlanta Jenne is being housed -- the U.S. penitentiary in Atlanta or the work camp next to it -- Truman said Jenne is probably residing in the work camp next to the prison.

``The prison has a wall around it, prisoners are in cells and the ratio of staff to inmates is much higher than the work camp, Truman said. ``The work camp has no walls and more military-type barracks where there could be 100 bunk beds.''

In 2003, Jenne, who advocated renewal of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, found himself, along with CNN, under scrutiny for a misleading firearm demonstration. From NewsBusters editor Brent Baker's May 22, 2003 CyberAlert:

Update on CNN's very distorted comparison of the firepower of a legal versus an illegal "assault weapon." In a Wednesday Miami Herald story, a CNN spokesman conceded that a sheriff's deputy fired the illegal weapon into cinder blocks, thus showing the firepower as chunks blew away, but when demonstrating a legal model, while CNN's camera showed the same cinder blocks being unscathed, the deputy was really firing into the ground, thus suggesting a difference in firepower when none existed.

For more on that controversy, see also Baker's May 20, 2003 CyberAlert, where Baker concluded (emphasis mine):

CNN deserves credit for re-visiting their earlier story in which, for all I know, they may have been the victims of the sheriff's shenanigans. But given how the clear implication of the demonstration was just plain wrong, that illegal assault weapons cause much more damage than legal models which have much less firepower, CNN still owes its viewers a more explicit acknowledgment that they visually conveyed a distortion of reality.

Photo credit: R.C. White for the Miami Herald. Via MiamiHerald.com.