Paralyzed Man DIES in DC Jail: Serving 10 days for marijuana possession!

[diamond14]

this news is a bit old, but it is worthy of further review by DUers....the story represents EVERYTHING that is WRONG with the bush* drug war.....this is what bush* calls "compassionate conservatism" in his war-on-drugs !

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D.C. Jail Stay Ends in Death For Quadriplegic Maryland Man
Care Provided by Hospital, Corrections Dept. in Question

By Henri E. Cauvin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 1, 2004; Page B01

Jonathan Magbie, a 27-year-old Mitchellville man, was sent to jail in the District last week for 10 days for marijuana possession.

Details about Magbie's death were first reported by WJLA-TV (Channel 7). Magbie was struck by a drunk driver when he was 4 years old; he was paralyzed from the neck down, and his growth was stunted. Barely five feet tall and 120 pounds, he moved around on a motorized wheelchair that he operated with his chin.

For most everything else, from scratching an itch on his head to flushing his lungs of accumulated fluid, he had to rely on others. Along with his family, he had nursing care 20 hours a day. "I'm not saying that he shouldn't have been punished, because he did smoke the marijuana," his mother, Mary Scott, said yesterday, a day after burying her son. "I just don't think it should have cost him his life."


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Apparently resigned to having him stay on at the jail annex, the medical staff decided after a couple of days of back-and-forth with Magbie's mother and attorney to allow Magbie's mother to bring his ventilator. Told to bring the device down Friday morning, she did, showing up about 10 a.m. A half-hour earlier, she would later learn, her son had been taken by ambulance back to Greater Southeast.

That night, she received a call from a warden telling her that her son was dead.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63478-2004Sep30.html

[skylarmae]

1. F**K - This is bad - there has to be payback for this -

This death should not go in vain. Remedies at law have to be put into place so that special needs sentences can be carried out (if they must be, this one seems excessively cruel) safely and the incarcerated isn't really issued a death sentence for possession of fucking maryjane.

[Ilsa]

2. This story makes me sick to my stomach.

Any idiot should have been able to see that the man needed his vent and nursing care in order to survive. I hope this family hires a smart one like John Edwards and rips these people a new asshole.

My son is autistic and I worry about how he would be treated, and how he would react, in a situation where there is involvement with police officers when he is older.

And they want us to be afraid of terrorists?

[Ezlivin]

3. Every news service would be carrying this if it were Christopher Reeve...

...who had died in that manner.

Sadly, only when it is someone sufficiently well-known will most people pay attention.

I'm so depressed by this news, I'm going to have to wheel myself out onto the porch and take a toke.

[ParanoidPat]

4. Out here in California we would have given him a Medical Marijuna card.

That's why the administration hates us. They hate us for our FREEDOM! :(

[DrWeird]

5. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time...

some idiot War on Drugs apologist would say.

[Downtown Hound]

6. We can all rest well

knowing that this criminal is off of the streets and will never get the munchies again.

Yes I'm being sarcastic.

[beyurslf]

7. This sickens me. Where are our priorities?

I hope her lawsuit (the one she better be filing now) gets national attention.

[gpandas]

10. our priorities...

"i know he should be punished..." his own mother.

[indepat]

8. Have you no decency, have you no humanity? Is this not compassionate

conservatism at its zenith? God how I despise all who expouse such as this.

[CheshireCat]

9. How sad --- how disgusting!

A quadriplegic man is jailed to punish him for smoking marijuana that eases the pain of his condition.

How could anyone think this is justice?

How can this judge live with herself? She needs to think long and hard about the pain her actions has caused

The hospital should be held liable for refusing to admit this man.

Disgusting!

Shouldn't corporations such as the hospital and governmnet official such as the judge be held accountable for their actions, just as this young quadriplegic was held responsible for smoking a joint to ease the pain caused by his condition.

[mainer]

11. The doctor should have called an ambulance

and sent the man straight to the E.R. Then his death becomes the HOSPITAL's responsibility.

[shanti]

12. goddamit, why didn't he just have house arrest

if they HAD to "punish" him!? this is sick!! :grr:

[Downtown Hound]

13. Because the judge was a bitch

who ignored the sentencing recommendation of probation. I hope she feels very guilty about this, and that's putting it mildly.

[noiretextatique]

14. this is criminal

and sickening. such a stupid waste of resources...and it cost someone his life.

[OutsourceBush]

15. Compare this 'death sentence for a joint' to druggie Limbaugh...

there are two justice systems in the US.

Whose business is it if a wheelchair bound person uses drugs? What was he going to do...get in a car and kill someone? He had absolutely no way of hurting anyone else on the planet in his condition.

[diamond14]

16. DEATH frequently happens to those with diabetes....same stuff...

Diabetes (type 1 especially) requires an extremely complex balancing act of insulin, exercise, and special diet....these people are very fragile, balancing between life/death if only for a little unit of insulin....stress can add dramatically to the balance, throwing people with diabetes between a life-threatening cycle of insulin reactions/convulsions and high blood sugar comas....

these people also used marijuana to maintain their eyesight over glaucoma and to relieve some of the major nerve damage done by diabetes (diabetes neuropathy is an extremely painful condition affecting all nerves in the body, and the pain can be relieved by marijuana)....

sadly, there have been many cases in America....where people with diabetes are put in jail for possession of tiny amounts of marijuana...and they DIE...

the American Diabetes Association has valiantly struggled over the years to stop this by recommending a series of training requirements for police....but they are mostly ignored...even the families of people with diabetes seem to be oblivious to the issue (or like many who have genetic disease, the others in the family simply neglect or walked away from their relatives with diabetes)....

[Zhade]

17. Gah - what unfortunate serendipity.

See my poll here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2478487