from www.mlive.com – A recent post-mortem of high-profile sex ring Miami Companions, which was broken up by federal agents last year, highlights the glaring inconsistency and imbalance in how we tackle the “crime” of prostitution.

Feb. 14, Detroit Free Press: On May 12, Gregory Carr, who prosecutors say masterminded Miami Companions, will be sentenced for running what the feds had dubbed one of the biggest sex rings in the country. Metro Detroit was among its busiest ports.

But none of the 30,000-plus clients who paid as much as $500-an-hour for sex were ever outed. The so-called black book that contains their names remains in an FBI office in Tampa under tight security.

And Barbara McQuade [pictured], U.S. attorney for southeast Michigan, said she has no plans to release the book — nor does she need it now that she has guilty pleas.

“Our goal is not to stamp out prostitution. I don’t think we’ll ever do that.” she said. “But what we are concerned about is deterring criminal organizations from exploiting women as a commodity for profit.”

Apparently, McQuade can tolerate prostitution as long as it remains a mom-and-pop endeavor. But grow that business from two girls on a street corner to a Web-based ring with international ties, then, suddenly, prostitution becomes deserving of federal wrath.

She’s not so much interested in busting the men who pay for sex, she says. Or the women who provide it — as long they keep their sex ring small. Her problem seems to be less with the act than with the scale of it: “We’re not trying to be the morality police,” McQuade said. “We try to go after what we perceive to be more important offenders, those who are engaged in organized criminal activity.”

But here’s the thing: As long as prostitution is illegal, it’s all “organized criminal activity.” Whether the sex workers are independent contractors or part of a larger group, they’re all providing pretty much the same service. Why is it suddenly worse because some middle manager is making flight arrangements or work schedules?

To be sure, there’s some nobility in McQuade’s stance, mired as it is in some common — and often true — perceptions about pimps, street pimps in particular. They can be abusive and low down. So you want to go after men who beat on women, steal their money or force them to sell their bodies? You’ll get nothing but cheers from me.

But there’s no evidence that Carr coerced any of these women. Even the workers themselves say they worked when they wanted to and pursued other interests when they didn’t. Miami Companions simply made it easier, and probably more lucrative, for them to do what they wanted to do. (Certainly the workers were going to sell sex anyway, a point proven by the fact that at least two former Miami Companions employees were peddling sex services even as they were cutting deals with the feds.)

Carr’s worst crime, as far as I can tell, seems to be getting paid to serve as a middle man in the sex industry. Is he really substantively any worse than, say, Hugh Hefner?

It seems a little disingenuous for McQuade to acknowledge that prostitution is an ineradicable trade on one hand, but then to declare it intolerable only when folks actually make money at it (which, of course, is the point of selling sex in the first place).

So what about sex workers who enjoy the trade and want the opportunity to earn more money and meet more clients? What about the women who get into the game of their own volition, independent “working girls” who tolerate no pimps but who still see the value in growing their network? How many clients can a “sex ring” have before McQuade determines that it’s become too big to succeed?

Despite McQuade’s clear acknowledgment of the intractability of the world’s oldest profession, the feds’ message seems to be that our government is fine with prostitution — as long as you’re not too good at it.