Fl Attorney General Bill McCollum has met with state and national Islamic leaders and wisely agreed to establish an on-going Muslim community advisory group. McCollum met with representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), the ACLU of Florida, leaders from Florida's Christian and Jewish communities and the Florida Muslim Bar Association.  McCollum's office will soon be offering educational programs on Islam and Muslims to his own staff and engaging the Muslim community in order to carry out his law enforcement priorities.

Rabbi Steven Jacobs, who took part in the meeting, nailed the issue when we said, "we ought to be obsessed with the truth, not distortions that lead to demonization and hatred of any group."

Other AG's should be looking to McCollum guidance on this issue and not just regarding Muslim-Americans.  His leadership reflects an understanding that the demographics of the United States are changing dramatically faster than the personnel in AG offices that remain overwhelmingly filled with caucasion baby boomers - who would do well to remember an anthem of their own youth, "The Times They Are a Changing,"

While Attorney General of Maine in the 1980's, my office prosecuted all homicides.  In doing so, we sentenced a number of individuals - mostly in their twenties - to a lifetime in prison.  These men are now approaching the age of 50 and, because of the rapid aging of imprisoned individuals, are now characterized in prison parlance as "geriatric." 

I wonder about them as they age.   These men must now be beginning to suffer from diabetes, congestive heart failure, cancer, high blood pressure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  Some are likely to be confused and disoriented leaving them more likely to be victimized by other inmates.   For most the fragile family structures that might have existed years ago must now have all but disappeared.

My thoughts are not simply those of an aging prosecutor gone soft - although to some degree I would plead guilty to that charge - but of someone concerned as to the implications of the statistics that show that inmates 50 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. prison population.  The costs - both financial and moral - for the care of aging prisoners will soon be crashing down on the shoulders of state correctional and prosecutorial personnel.

Is anyone paying attention?