Some jails just letting sick inmates die rather than treat them.

Happyflowerlady

Happyflowerlady

Vagabond Flowerchild
Location
Northern Alabama
This story is happening right here in Alabama where I live, but it can also be happening in jails all across the United States.
A 19 year old boy, who was accused of shoplifting some dvd's developed gangrene from a wound in his foot. Even though it could have been treated early on, the Madison County jail did nothing to treat this boy. When the foot odor became strong enough to be noticable, he was hosed down and moved to another cell. He was not fed, or even given water; was not even seen by a nurse for his infected foot.
They found him dead in his cell from a blood clot that originated from his foot.

This same county jail is also accused of letting two female inmates die without receiving treatment from very treatable injuries.
Apparently, the county has liability insurance that will pay for any lawsuits that happen as a result of inmate deaths; but if they actually treat the patient, then it comes out of the county budget for the jail.
So, from their point of view, it is cheaper to just let the inmate die, and hope there is no lawsuit.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/l...to-save-money/
 

I think that the article says that they DO have an obligation to give medical care; however, the loophole for it must be that the patient (or relatives if they die, as in these cases) would have to prove that medical care was not given.
Since many of the people that are put in jails for small crimes, like this boy and the two women, are often poor; the likelihood of the county being sued is relatively small. Thus, they can save money by not treating the person, even though it is mandated to do so; and will usually suffer no consequences from the lack of medical care for the patient.
If they are actually being sued; as is happening in these cases; then they depend on the insurance coverage to pay for any lawsuits that do incur.
Either way, the county jail doesn't have to pay.
Possibly, if they can go after specific persons that work in the jail, and show negligence on their part; then they can start a personal lawsuit that isn't ccovered by the county insurance.
It seems likely to me that if the county jail here is getting away with doing this, then probably many of the other jails are doing it , too. We have lived here about 8 years, and this is the first time that I have read about this going on; so probably there have not been lawsuits for this before, here in Huntsville.
 
If the death penalty is appropriate for stealing DVDs, what should be done to administrators of penal institutions who neglect the needs of people for whom they have a duty of care?

Nothing? Really?

Oh well. In that case why not improve the budget bottom line by cutting the rations? If some starve, well, whose fault was it that they were imprisoned in the first place?
 
Davey Jones said:
Again,nobody put them in jail but themselves.
Click to expand...

That might be true (or it might not be true in some cases of disagreements), but just because a boy steals a DVD from Walmart, does not mean that he should be left to die without medical care.
A whole lot of teenagers do things that are against the law while growing to adulthood; but we don't usually kill them for it.
If it were one of your grandchildren who had shoplifted, you might be very angry with them; but you would never want to see the child left to suffer and die !
They didn't even do any of the basic things to treat him before it became gangrene. Probably some hydrogen peroxide on it right away would have stopped it from becoming so infected in the first place; and even if they were not told about it in time, they should have had a nurse come in and see what medical attention that he needed.
 
I was angry when I found out that the dog pound had my elderly dog there for a week, despite denying that they had her, and by the time I went to check for myself she was almost dead from hunger and had a wound on her front leg that had been totally neglected. It had not even been bathed.

The reason that she was starving was that she was in a pen with a young dog who got all the food and the injury to her leg was caused by the dog catcher when she was rounded up after someone left our side gate open.

The pound staff could not have looked at her registration disc which was still on her collar when we finally found her. They thought she was a male dog so they had not even looked at her properly, hence the confusion when I rang looking for her.

The staff must have seen her deteriorating but did not care.

I consider this kind of treatment of an animal to be absolutely reprehensible. I can't really express how much more culpable I hold people who treat powerless people this callously. I don't make any distinction between children, people in nursing homes or prison inmates.
 
Of course we could go into the Privatization and profit motivation of our prison system...... but it's early and I've only had 1/2 cup of coffee..
 
Happyflowerlady said:
This story is happening right here in Alabama where I live, but it can also be happening in jails all across the United States.
A 19 year old boy, who was accused of shoplifting some dvd's developed gangrene from a wound in his foot. Even though it could have been treated early on, the Madison County jail did nothing to treat this boy. When the foot odor became strong enough to be noticable, he was hosed down and moved to another cell. He was not fed, or even given water; was not even seen by a nurse for his infected foot.
They found him dead in his cell from a blood clot that originated from his foot.

This same county jail is also accused of letting two female inmates die without receiving treatment from very treatable injuries.
Apparently, the county has liability insurance that will pay for any lawsuits that happen as a result of inmate deaths; but if they actually treat the patient, then it comes out of the county budget for the jail.
So, from their point of view, it is cheaper to just let the inmate die, and hope there is no lawsuit.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/l...to-save-money/
Click to expand...


That is absolutely awful! Where on earth is peoples 'humanity'?
 
Davey Jones said:
Again,nobody put them in jail but themselves.
Click to expand...


Of course you're right there. People all make choices don't they? But at the same time, how many young people like that nineteen year old do a stint in jail and then never again because they learn.

And more to the point, what does that say about the people who are in charge? That they are soulless and as vile as the people they guard? We get riled up when we hear stories about people whose dog gets sick and they watched it suffer for days/weeks with no medical care until it died but these jailers get a pass because the ones suffering and dying are prisoners?
 
Ina said:
I'm not sure of all states, but Texas prisons have and give the inmates good medical services. It is much better than the poor get, even with Medicaid. :wave:
Click to expand...

It's my understanding that your Medicaid is almost non-existant... what with Perry and all refusing to allow the medicaid expansion to cover poor and working poor.
 
QuickSliver, the jails don't provide decent medical service, but the prisons do. I did several years of inmate counciling, with a group called Bridge To Life. We were all over those prisons, and we were surprised at the level of care on all matters concerning the inmates.
Medicaid is not hard to get in the Harris county area, unless your not a minority, and we have a lot of them here. It does not matter if they are legal or not.
I do hear that people say it's hard to get aid, but that is not what I see. Half the people in our area are on Medicaid and food stamps. The area is about 3/4 minority.
A couple of years ago we tried to get me on Medicaid, but we were told no, that our SS income along with a very small city pension put us in a the right bracket. But, we own our home and the five acers it sits on, so we have to any assets.

 
Dame Warrigal said:
I was angry when I found out that the dog pound had my elderly dog there for a week, despite denying that they had her, and by the time I went to check for myself she was almost dead from hunger and had a wound on her front leg that had been totally neglected. It had not even been bathed.

The reason that she was starving was that she was in a pen with a young dog who got all the food and the injury to her leg was caused by the dog catcher when she was rounded up after someone left our side gate open.

The pound staff could not have looked at her registration disc which was still on her collar when we finally found her. They thought she was a male dog so they had not even looked at her properly, hence the confusion when I rang looking for her.

The staff must have seen her deteriorating but did not care.

I consider this kind of treatment of an animal to be absolutely reprehensible. I can't really express how much more culpable I hold people who treat powerless people this callously. I don't make any distinction between children, people in nursing homes or prison inmates.
Click to expand...



Most dog pounds have a big turnover of employees,I dont know what the pay is but it casnt be that much to take care of animals and clean up after them.
 
Dame Warrigal said:
I was angry when I found out that the dog pound had my elderly dog there for a week, despite denying that they had her, and by the time I went to check for myself she was almost dead from hunger and had a wound on her front leg that had been totally neglected. It had not even been bathed.

The reason that she was starving was that she was in a pen with a young dog who got all the food and the injury to her leg was caused by the dog catcher when she was rounded up after someone left our side gate open.

The pound staff could not have looked at her registration disc which was still on her collar when we finally found her. They thought she was a male dog so they had not even looked at her properly, hence the confusion when I rang looking for her.

The staff must have seen her deteriorating but did not care.

I consider this kind of treatment of an animal to be absolutely reprehensible. I can't really express how much more culpable I hold people who treat powerless people this callously. I don't make any distinction between children, people in nursing homes or prison inmates.
Click to expand...

That is shocking DW..they are all in the same position..locked up and not in control of their destiny..
 
Don't get me started on what our government is doing to asylum seekers who arrive by boat. A similar case occurred when a young man sent to Manus Island got an infected cut in his foot which turned septic. Treatment was delayed and by the time they finally decided to move him to the Australian mainland it was too late.

He had committed no crime at all.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...ment-in-australia-or-png-20141017-117rml.html
 
Dame Warrigal said:
Don't get me started on what our government is doing to asylum seekers who arrive by boat. A similar case occurred when a young man sent to Manus Island got an infected cut in his foot which turned to gangrene. Treatment was delayed and by the time they finally decided to move him to the Australian mainland it was too late.

He had committed no crime at all.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...ment-in-australia-or-png-20141017-117rml.html
Click to expand...

I actually saw a program about Australian asylum seekers..apparently when the country they came from was no longer considered ''dangerous'' the asylum seekers had a month to go back..One woman drank bleach and died, and a man cut his own throat..
 
On this issue our government is evil and the opposition is little better. Only the Greens speak out for decency.
As a people we are entirely to blame because maltreatment of asylum seekers, or as the government labels the "illegal maritime arrivals", is popular with the voters. It's been a race to the bottom and the electorate chose the very lowest party at the last election.

They deserve to be taken before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. One independent MP from Tasmania has written to the ICC seeking to prosecute the Abbott government for crimes against humanity, specifically asylum seekers. He is a good and decent man.

http://www.news.com.au/national/and...f-asylum-seekers/story-fncynjr2-1227098266151
 
*shrug*

If you want your country to end up like ours just open the gates and let them all in. Don't forget to give them perks that the natives don't get, and make sure you change your laws to favor them when they commit crimes.

Oh, and stock up on plenty of Band Aids.
 
Phil, it's only the ones who come by boat that are locked up in tropical hell holes. The rest, the ones who come by plane on false visas can apply for asylum and be processed. The ones who come on student visas but who then end up in the brothels and the kitchens of Chinese restaurants just melt into the cities and the thousands who come on 456 and 457 work visas end up exploited by the employers who won't pay award wages under award conditions, not only depriving Australian workers of jobs but also driving down local wages and conditions.

The government is keen to have more of the latter and persecutes the former.
IMO, those few that brave the high seas in leaky boats have what it takes to become good citizens - gratitude, courage and resilience.
 
It sounds like pure neglect which in turn winds up being cruel and usual punishment which is against the constitution. Also many in jail not prison are awaiting trial along with serving minor sentences. But this is neglect pure and simple. It's just as bad as the DEA leaving a suspect in a cell DAYS unattended.
 

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