Brain-dead inmate guarded

[kskiska]

SACRAMENTO – An inmate left brain-dead after being shot by a prison guard nearly three weeks ago lay in a hospital bed yesterday, guarded around the clock at a cost of more than $1,000 a day in a situation family members and a lawmaker called absurd.

"This sounds like something out of a Stephen King novel," said Democratic state Sen. Gloria Romero. "For us in the Legislature, we're asking, 'Then why are we guarding a dead man?' "

State corrections officials tried to find a way around a department policy that requires guarding hospitalized inmates. They compromised yesterday by unchaining the inmate's legs, which had been shackled to his bed.

Daniel Provencio, 28, was shot in the head with a supposedly nonlethal foam projectile while he allegedly tried to prevent guards from stopping a fight between two inmates.

The state has spent $1,056 a day in overtime guarding Provencio since he was taken Jan. 16 to a Bakersfield hospital, where he lay hooked to a ventilator.

more…
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050205/news_1n5inmate.html

[babylonsister]

1. Supposedly non-lethal?

And such a huge compromise; unchaining a brain dead man's legs? :eyes:

[Demit]

2. makes you wonder who the brain dead ones are.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. Are they going to hire a psychic to guard agauinst OOB excursions?

We live in a land of luddites.

[kskiska]

4. Well, Ronald Reagan was guarded by the Secret Service

for years – right up to the end. Maybe the guys assigned to the job were guilty of infractions or being punished for some reason.

[CO Liberal]

7. And Of Course, Bush* is Brain-Dead, and They Guard HIM.....

Right?

[Spinzonner]

9. Damn, beat me to it

[TahitiNut]

12. Ditto

[Ezlivin]

5. And why did we imprison this man?

{He} was in prison for violating parole on drug convictions by driving drunk.

If we had given this man treatment instead of incarceration, this problem would not have occurred. In addition, our prisons would not be overcrowded and California would not have had to spend more on building prisons than on building schools.

[DBoon]

6. Zombies are real!

Just ask those folks who opposed a Muslim cemetery on the grounds that it would be a breeding ground for terrorist plots

[Spinzonner]

10. Well, they were right

New cememtaries seem to be hatching plots constantly

And the thought of those Suicide Hearse Bombers ...

[DBoon]

13. "I was a Zombie Suicide Bomber"

Directed by Roger Corman

[indepat]

8. One can't be too careful

[merh]

11. Just be glad that they haven't tried to parole him or commute

his sentence and release him to his family so that they have to pay the costs.

Several years ago there was a fire at our local jail, several inmates were killed and one was left in a comma, brain dead, due to the toxic fumes put out by the small fire in the "padded" cell. Polyurethane was the substance that was used to pad the cell.

The prisoner was a state prisoner, awaiting transport to the state pen. The department of correction thought they were being kind to the family when they offered to commute his sentence. Fortunately, the county attorney at the time convinced them that it was not an act of kindness, but would be a hardship on the family. That inmate survived for over 10 years on life support. Can you imagine the expense the family would have had to pay.

This article is about the "costs wasted on guarding" the inmate. Not the waste of life and the use of a device that killed him. We are a disposable society. :cry:

[Solar]

14. "non-lethal" is a misnomer

Any The correct term is less-than-lethal. LTL weapons can still kill if used incorrectly or too much. Tear gas spray can kill a person who has lung problems. Tasers can kill if someone has a heart problem. Projectiles like this are no different, they can kill if used incorrectly. Projectiles such as the one used are never supposed to be shot at the head because this can happen.

[genieroze]

15. So much for nonlethal. eom