Here’s an idea for a new contest for our readers — vote for which Metro Government department is the most screwed up. There’s the Board of Zoning Adjustments, land of secret, illegal meetings and undue influence from attorneys.

Many votes would go to Economic Development, advocates of mass giveaways of taxpayer money to out-of-town corporations. There’s Public Housing, subject of a massive auditor’s report exposing incompetence.

But the kingpin of bad behavior has to be the folks running the jail. We have our own personal experience with these folks, but now we hear another whopper from WHAS-TV’s Adam Walser.

It’s not just that corrections officer Ron Morris is the subject of a criminal complaint of assault from his estranged wife, which is bad enough. But Morris’ misdeeds were the subject of a cover-up in which he spent three days evading the law, all the while communicating frequently with his supervisor, another thug-like character, Maj. Robert Dietz.

Jail chief Mark Bolton released information to Walser proving that phone calls took place between Dietz and Morris while Morris was dodging the warrant for arrest for domestic violence.

Dietz had been suspended for 30 days for beating a prisoner. Now he’s been fired. Once Morris’ case winds it way through the courts, he’ll be dismissed too.

One of the oddities of Walser’s story is his interview with Brittany Cassady, the estranged wife of Morris. She had claimed last September that Morris had a plan to kill her and feared for her life. Then she dropped the charges in court, which allowed Morris to keep his job.

In her recent complaint she said Morris strangled and beat her. But when Walser confronted her at her home, she denied making any of the charges. She must fear that Morris will come back.

The jail administration, we know, can’t get it records computerized and is the most inefficient operation we’ve ever encountered. And it’s also got its share of employees like Morris and Dietz.