As you've probably heard by now, the so-called "D.C. Madam," Deborah Jeane Palfrey -- about to be sentenced to a federal prison for charges related to running a high-class "escort service" for the rich and powerful in our nation's capital, was found dead today in a shed next to her mother's retirement home in Florida.
I'm sure her death will be grist for a decade or two's worth of conspiracy theories -- she was rumored at times to be writing a book about her high-profile clients along the lines of Louisiana GOP Sen. David Vitter, whose number was found in her records. But the police in Tarpon Springs, Fla., have been making the case aggressively -- and so far persuasively -- that her death was simply suicide. Palfrey, who did some jail time in the 1990s, told ABC News recently that she didn't plan on spending one day in the federal pen and apparently made a more explicit threat to kill herself to writer Dan Moldea.
And yet Palfrey, 52, was facing a maximum sentence of 50 years, with a more than likely stretch of four to six years, according to federal sentencing guidelines. The fairly harsh incarceration threat hanging over her immediately reminded me of a New York Times story that I linked here last week.
Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.
I know when the whole Eliot Spitzer scandal broke, some contrarians questioned why prostitution (and yes, the feds, in their typical fashion, did convict Palfrey of other crimes like money laundering) is even a crime. I wouldn't go nearly that far -- prostitution in many guises around the world is akin to slavery, and in a city like Philadelphia many neighborhoods have been dragged down by open prostitution. But the kind of activity alleged here -- rich people paying for sexual activity in private -- isn't exactly the crime of the century, yet it caused Palfrey to face a potentially long prison sentence.
Not only is Deborah Jeane Palfrey now gone, but also one of her "escorts," Brandy Britton, a 43-year-old former college professor who also reportedly killed herself shortly before she was supposed to stand trial in her federal case. It's certainly fair to argue that Palfrey and Britton knew the risks they were taking, that prostitution is against the law. But those same risks apparently don't apply to their well-to-do and sometimes politically connected customers, none of whom is charged for their involvement. In fact David Vitter is still one of 100 U.S. senators writing the laws of the United States.
The only rhyme or reason about upscale prostitution in America seems to be this: It's only a crime if you're not powerful, or in the case of Eliot Spitzer, you piss off the powerful.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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