In Prison, Far From Home

Millions of people around the world cheered when President Bill Clinton swooped into North Korea ten days ago to broker the release of Current TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee. But should they have been there so long? And what about the hundreds of other Americans in dangerous prisons abroad under questionable – or straight-up unjust – charges?

In a New York Times op-ed yesterday, attorney Michael Griffith points out that it’s required under U.S. law that the President to use any means – short of war – to free Americans he believes are imprisoned abroad. The reality is more nuanced than simply following that law – there are other considerations in the international relationships involved in negotiations like this, and when the other side of the table is Iran or North Korea, war is a very real concern. But Griffith’s proposal of an office of prisoner affairs in the State Department is a good one. We should have a more organized and concerted federal policy on addressing cases of American citizens imprisoned abroad.

I’ve written here about the cases of Americans in prison abroad, and those (like Eric Volz) who were freed through international ad hoc advocacy and lobbying that drains family resources and doesn't always work. Creating a small, central office in Washington, D.C. to handle these matters would be a wise move.

The issue of overturning the countless wrongful convictions inside our borders and preventing future injustice is a separate matter, of course, and one that we must continue to focus on as well.