Illinois inmate bleeds to death as guards ignore him, offer no medication at all for weeks

I read this article on another site, about 4:30 this morning.

I have really mixed feelings about it.

The article says that inmates are supposed to have a medical examination, upon arriving to prison. Supposedly, he knew he had HIV, but did he know about the hepatitis, and the cancer? Should those other conditions also have been found?

His medication for the HIV, was supposedly in place when he got to prison, yet he was only given tylenol, and a 15 minute visit with a Dr.?

Seems fishy to me, at the least. I am thinking the guards avoided him at all costs for the HIV statues alone, afraid to go near the guy.

Did he deserve to suffer as he did? No!

While I'm sure guards have their fair share of, "fakers," according to the article, this guy dispayed many symptoms of the hepatitis, alone.

Still, what goes through my mind, is the avoided him like the plague for the HIV.

Somehow, I get the impression that prison systems are just for housing inmates, from this article, and don't care if the felon is ill, especially if it's HIV! Perhaps they are not equiped, which is also no excuse.

If you believe that a human being should be allowed to suffer and die simply because he was convicted of a NON violent crime, then you have no soul.

Even a human convicted of a violent crime should not be allowed to suffer needlesly.

I have never been an inmate in a prison, but I have a close family member who served two years for being a drug addict. Those trips to Lowell Correctional Institute to go see her were some of the most demoralizing days of my life. And I was just a visitor.

The women I met there were overwhelmingly there for drug "crimes", usually non violent. Some of the stories I heard were heartbreaking.

This story doesn't surprise me at all. It does however make me sad to see how very low we, as a species, can go.

Originally posted by richierich
You know NOTHING about the cae except what is reported, and yet you ASSUME with NO proof nonsense...who says he did anything but some financial crimes?

And who says he didn't? Right: Nobody did

Originally posted by richierich
I guess all I can hope for is that YOU will be arrested for some reason and thrown into a dungeon, and then get sick and plead for your life...maybe, just maybe then you would see how horrific and sickening your words really are...I guess some people have no empathy, no connection to others, and can only comprehend others suffering if you experience it yourself.

Sorry, i'm a good citizen, i know how to behave, i never caused any problems, i was raised the way that i know what is allowed and what isn't. I don't feel sympathy for criminals, never have, never will. They know what they're doing, they know they act against laws, they know they do crimes and they do it while risking jail, beatings and death penalties. They deserve everything they get in my oppinion. At least jails in the united states are bad, they're worse, they're torture unlike german prisons that are more like summer camps. Criminal people don't deserve respect, attention or feelings in my oppinon. They're the scum of the earth.

And like i said in my post: That guy had a lot of terminal diseases, he would've died a painfull death anyway, doesn't matter if he was filled up with opium or not, if you have those disesaes, you'll feel the pain. Most of them are relieved through death.

Originally posted by PayMeh
reply to post by richierich

 

Get ready for this thread to be flooded with hateful "he got what he deserved" sentiments. I fought it for 2 days in that other thread and it's left me very disturbed. As if there weren't enough problems going on at the moment, I'm awakened to the fact that a large group of people, possibly a majority, believe people convicted of non violent crimes deserve whatever they get. God help us all, the self righteous are ready to throw the first stone. Compassion is dead.

Not so. While the guy was serving a sentence for crimes, he was in a system that should have been looking out for his welfare, while housed there. Just because somebody deserves to be in prison, doesn't mean they should not be treated humanely while there. So get off it already!

S&F. Thanks for the heads up. This is disgusting. Another reason I feel justified in my feelings concerning the government of this country and the justice system (cops and prisons included). I have nothing but contempt and hate for them. They are NOT even the same species as us I swear! They need to be removed from power and we need to reform our government from top to bottom. They all belong in prison themselves!

Originally posted by ShadowAngel85

Originally posted by richierich
You know NOTHING about the cae except what is reported, and yet you ASSUME with NO proof nonsense...who says he did anything but some financial crimes?

And who says he didn't? Right: Nobody did

Originally posted by richierich
I guess all I can hope for is that YOU will be arrested for some reason and thrown into a dungeon, and then get sick and plead for your life...maybe, just maybe then you would see how horrific and sickening your words really are...I guess some people have no empathy, no connection to others, and can only comprehend others suffering if you experience it yourself.

Sorry, i'm a good citizen, i know how to behave, i never caused any problems, i was raised the way that i know what is allowed and what isn't. I don't feel sympathy for criminals, never have, never will. They know what they're doing, they know they act against laws, they know they do crimes and they do it while risking jail, beatings and death penalties. They deserve everything they get in my oppinion. At least jails in the united states are bad, they're worse, they're torture unlike german prisons that are more like summer camps. Criminal people don't deserve respect, attention or feelings in my oppinon. They're the scum of the earth.

And like i said in my post: That guy had a lot of terminal diseases, he would've died a painfull death anyway, doesn't matter if he was filled up with opium or not, if you have those disesaes, you'll feel the pain. Most of them are relieved through death.

Your taxes kill men and women and children, your taxes poison you and your family. We are all in the wrong, no matter how much we reason.

Ok, Well first of all if someone has cancer, hepatitis and HIV that's already a death sentence. While I feel the guards were wrong in not answering calls for help or at least tossing a morphine pill in his cell. I do not think he should have been taken to a hospital, to what? prolong his dieing body on the taxpayers dime. People whine and whine about getting taxed more but then whine and whine when a PRISON doesn't spend tens of thousands of TAX DOLLARS to treat a dieing prisoner with cancer and HIV treatment those two alone are extremely expensive to treat.

You want some treatment then dont do stupid $hit to go to prison, get a job and get insurance instead of trying to steal and con your way through life. Whats the big deal in that? I had to do it if I wanted support my family and get medical treatment when needed so why cant you. Oh thats right because you want the easy way through life living at someone elses expense. You cant say F*ck the world then expect the world to be there for you. It doesn't work like that at least not to me.

Also if you have the combo of HIV and Hepatitis More than likely you've played with needles which c'mon who doesn't know what can be contracted playing with needles even the image the OP posted the guy looks blown out of his mind. You play with fire sooner or later you WILL get burned. Now I don't know this man nor do I know exactly how he got these diseases but id bet it was drugs/sharing needles just from what he has, If it looks like a duck,walks like a duck, Quacks like a duck. Ill bet its a duck.

Just because a person is sent to prison the facility takes the responsibilty on for taking care of that inmate. The facility and the operators are at fault for one main reason the signs of his sickness had to be evident to them. If his eyes were the way the coroner says that should have been a sign. Also with his situation as bad as it was and he was in that bad of shape the facility has the responsibility to get the medical help he should have been given even if that meant the nurse come to his cell and see him. Just because you are incarcerated you do not lose that right to get medical attention. This could go bad for the staff and medical staff of this facility if found there was negligence on their parts. I was in a county jail with a man that was really sick and he was a cell mate that had to be taken to the hospital because of his illness and he was not seen by the nurse for 3 or 4 days and when they did see him it was too late he died the next day in the hospital.
I understand how people feel about people in jail that still does not justify the fact that the facility is responsible for the health and safety of an inmate.At the very least he should have been put in the medical ward for observation and if they didn't see a reason to keep him there they would have sent him back to his cell, but the very least thing they should have done was to at least monitor him. Seeing these types of reports really gets tough,because not only was he doing his time which he brought on himself yes he was also a human being that didn't deserve to die the way he did.If this was someone that wasn't in prison and was in a different type of facility say rehab what do you think would happen to those people that were responsible for his well being, thats right they would have some serious legal troubles. So in my opinion although he was a prisoner he did not deserve to die the way he did. That goes for any facility wether it is contracted out or not.

Originally posted by airspoon

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/be831a19a2f6.jpg[/atsimg]
The guards who ignored this man's pleas for mercy should be charged with capital murder... all of them and hopefully put to death. A move like that should send a strong message that we are all human and just become someone was imprisoned by the system, does not make them any less of a human (depending on the crime, lol).

--airspoon

[edit on 28/6/2010 by Mirthful Me]

Ah yes, pile on even more bloodshed, that will certainly send a strong message that we're all human.

Originally posted by PayMeh
reply to post by richierich

 

Get ready for this thread to be flooded with hateful "he got what he deserved" sentiments. I fought it for 2 days in that other thread and it's left me very disturbed. As if there weren't enough problems going on at the moment, I'm awakened to the fact that a large group of people, possibly a majority, believe people convicted of non violent crimes deserve whatever they get. God help us all, the self righteous are ready to throw the first stone. Compassion is dead.

You're EXACTLY correct....just the other day, I heard a young dude on the El say to an old lady on a crowded train, "I ain't giving you my seat, you old bitch...why don't you just die already" I am NOT kidding...this was said to an old lady who was barely able to move....on a crowded train......

I am not sure if parents are not teaching their children compassion and humility...or if the lack of religion, (not that RELIGION makes one a better person), or exactly WHAT.....but I see this kind of crap all the time.....and I am in my 40's...from Texas....taught to respect my fellow human being......(shrug)

d(-_-)b

I'm very disturbed by this, maybe because i lost both my parents to cancer in the last 5 years, but what disturbs me also is this:

Originally posted by airspoon
This is absolutely unacceptable! This guy was only in prison for passing counterfeit checks, yet they forced him to suffer a horrible death, even though he was pleading for help.

No matter what crime someone committed, they are doing their time for that, and NOBODY should get this kind of treatment.

OP unless you are the actual person who took that photo you just put your “watermark” on their work. With all the piracy news going about lately I would assume you understand that would be plagiarism and is actually against to T&C.


As for the article I think it is horrible that he had to die in such a manner. I do though wonder if he was not one who used to “cry wolf” and the guards just started to ignore him after some time. At the same time I would think that someone might know about his medical history at least the basics of it (HIPAA sort of changed how that works though so not sure). It seems the case of many people who just either did not care or figured he was up to something and did not want to deal with it. Either way three needs to be an investigation from the information given in the story. I would like to see more information though on this to completely understand what took place.

Raist

Regardless of what he was in for they still should have shown compassion for another human being.. All life is valuable.. At the very least they should have done something to help ease the pain that the man was in.
Truly frightening the lack of compassion and disregard for human life there..

reply to post by Raist


I put my name on only photos that I edit, as a means to suggest that the photo is edited by me. If the photo isn't edited or taken by me, then I don't put my name on it. Also, there is no copyright on this photo. It appears to be a BOP photo.

--airspoon


reply to post by hippomchippo


I wasn't suggesting to murder those responsible, rather try them and "hopefully" give them the death penalty as I believe their crime to be just as hanous as many other crimes of death-row inmates. Obviously, I support the death penalty for people who seem to have no consideration of the life of others. Meet force with force.

--airspoon

[edit on 28-6-2010 by airspoon]

I would like to add and experience I had while serving time (72hrs) in a county prison. It was Erie County Prison in Erie Pennsylvania. There was a guy that would refuse to leave his cell for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The C.O.s intercom-med to his cell for him to get out. The man would not respond or anything. People would tell the C.O.s that this man was sick and needed help. Still after two days no one went to check on him. On the third day, they finally checked on him to discover he had had a minor heart attack and rushed him to the nearest hospital without contacting his relatives.

Prisons are meant to be places for rehabilitation, not necessarily punishment. No one deserves this and things like this go on in our prisons alot more than you'd like to think. To think this poor man suffered for days with a heart attack, thankfully a minor one, and no one with the proper authority went to physically check on him.