ACLU files suit for Robert Daniels, TB patient jailed for 9 months

[pnwmom]

under inhuman conditions. For no reason at all except for the convenience of his jailers, this sick man is being held in a room with no hot water, no TV, radio, or internet, no natural light and the artificial light always on.

This man is under civilian quarantine, he's been convicted of no crime. THIS COULD BE ANY ONE OF US WHO HAD THE MISFORTUNE TO CONTRACT MULTI-DRUG RESISTANT TB.

http://www.aclu.org/privacy/gen/29941prs20070531.html

PHOENIX, AZ – The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona today filed a lawsuit on behalf of Robert Daniels, a tuberculosis patient who has been held in the jail ward at the Maricopa Medical Center for the past nine months, charging that treating a severely ill patient like a criminal is inhumane and unconstitutional.

SNIP

In its complaint, the ACLU argues that the county has failed to implement procedures on how to humanely quarantine sick patients for lengthy periods of time, and in an effort to cut costs deliberately failed to explore alternative locations in which to quarantine Daniels. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio publicly stated that in the interest of security he would treat any person housed in the jail ward in the same manner as all other jail inmates.

Like jailed inmates accused of crimes, Daniels is subjected to intrusive strip searches and he is unable to receive any visits from family and friends. He isn’t permitted to exercise or walk outside, and has no access to social or recreational activities like the Internet. He has been outside only once in the past nine months, and was shackled hand and foot. The lights in his cell are required to be kept on at night, and video cameras record his every move. He can’t see through the frosted windows in his room and wasn’t able to shower or call anyone until a few weeks ago.

“It’s psychologically damaging to exist in a vacuum without meaningful activities or opportunities to interact with others,” said ACLU of Arizona cooperating attorney Linda Cosme. “By placing Robert Daniels in these deplorable conditions, the county clearly has no intention of helping him get better. For years, they’ve been aware of the need to create an adequate quarantine area for extremely ill patients, yet they’ve chose to ignore the needs of some of the most vulnerable people in Maricopa County in favor of harsh, jail-like conditions for people who are sick and accused of no crimes.”


SNIP

[rec_report]

1. K&R! n/t

[seriousstan]

2. The man wouldn't follow a voluntary quarantine and insisted on going in public without a mask.

He willingly put the general public in extreme danger.

[Kiouni]

3. This Tb Case is a lot like

when aids patients still have unprotected sex with strangers. Is it assault with a deadly weapon? I think the legislation on this varies state to state but I don't support how they are treating this man because it will simply exacerbate his medical condition.

[pnwmom]

5. Right. They should be treating him as a sick person

who needs to be strictly confined.

Not as a criminal who needs to be punished as severely as possible.

[cynatnite]

6. Doctors know how to treat TB...this jerk put people at risk

It poses a huge threat to the population and this man put the entire public in danger. He didn't finish the antibiotics the first time around in Russia. He quit because he felt better. He got sick again. Came to the US. Was told to wear a mask...he didn't. He didn't think it was a big deal. What an idiot!

If you care about those close to you, you don't want them getting sick. If you have AIDS you don't spread it to others by having unprotected sex. If you have an airborne bacteria that is highly comunicable, you make sure you don't spread it to others by wearing a mask.

This man put the public at risk and there is no excuse for it. Give him a TV and a some books, but don't let him out until he is well enough not to harm anyone.

[Kiouni]

7. I agree

they don't give the gun back to assaulter when he posts bail.
Now, I do not know if he is being charged with anything in which case I have to default to laws on books, sadly. But most of the time just because we haven't thought of it doesn't mean its not a crime. What about all of those aids needles left in pay phones in the '90's? There has to be something on the books but like I said earlier stat to state laws differ on whether or not transmitting a known communicable disease is a crime.

[cynatnite]

8. I thought there was a case a few years back...

where someone here in the US knowingly infected a child with AIDS. He went to prison.

The article I read about this man with TB said they went to a judge and got a court order to hold him there. I don't know how far the ACLU will get other than maybe some better conditions than what he's currently in right now.

[pnwmom]

11. That's what the ACLU is trying to get -- more humane conditions.

The law requires the least restrictive conditions. Certainly there is no good reason to deprive him of phone contact with the outside world, or a television set, or the chance to take a shower once a week. They hadn't let this guy wash his hair for nine months!

[cynatnite]

12. I still don't have a lot of compassion for him...

He knew, but didn't care enough about the rest of the population.

[pnwmom]

15. Here is why you should think about caring more.

They're not treating him this way because of anything logical, legal, or because of his behavior.
If they were being FAIR, they'd treat him the same way they're treating Mr. Speaker, who behaved the same way and yet is being sent to an isolation unit in a good hospital that specializes in lung diseases.

The reason they are treating Mr. Daniels this way is because . . . they can. And probably because it is cheaper than sending him to Denver.

He is being imprisoned WITHOUT TRIAL as much as any prisoner at Gitmo. This could happen to ANY of us, if we were in a municipality that didn't care about our rights.

[pnwmom]

10. He hasn't been charged with a crime. This is supposed to be

a civil confinement. The problem is that the sheriff insists on treating him like other people on the hospital prison ward.

[cynatnite]

13. He should be charged with a crime...

When you are told that you have a highly contagious illness that could kill other people and don't take the proper precautions to insure it doesn't spread to the public you shouldn't be surprised at the reaction. They went to a judge to order the confinement because he was endangering the public...kind of like what happens to criminals.

[pnwmom]

17. He has been civilly confined. THERE WAS NO TRIAL.

And from what I understand, there were no criminal charges to even consider.

A judge signing an order is NOT equivalent to a trial -- otherwise, the three Duke students would all be in prison for rape now.

[pnwmom]

9. As far as I'm concerned, they can keep him as long as he's contagious,

which might be forever.

But there is no excuse to make his life this miserable, when it would be simple enough to give him a TV, a radio, a phone connection, and a laptop. And they don't have to keep the lights on him 24 hours a day or prevent him from ever taking a shower or never let him go outside to exercise.

I'm sure the reason they're treating him like this is because they're too cheap to pay for more humane treatment such as at the hospital in Denver where the Atlanta attorney -- who also deliberately exposed other people -- was sent.

[pnwmom]

4. That certainly justifies isolation and confinement, but it doesn't

justify the conditions under which he is being held. The law requires that the least restrictive conditions should be applied in this type of case. There is surely no reason he can't be provided with books, TV, a phone, a shower, an exercise area, etc.

Remember, he didn't follow the doctor's instructions -- but he hasn't been CONVICTED of any crime. Even most prisoners live under better conditions than he does. He has gone for more than 9 months unable to wash his hair!

[Lord Helmet]

14. he was given the chance to do the right thing

and didn't do it, instead exposing all kinds of people to his funk

[pitohui]

16. no it couldn't be ANY one of us, it couldn't be me

if i had a drug-resistant strain of TB, i would comply w. the instructions -- i would wear a mask to protect innocents, not fly on commercial carriers, etc -- i would not be trying to heartlessly expose others and potentially start a serious epidemic

this guy criminally exposed innocent people to a disease that kills, jail is where he belongs and it's where the rich guy who did the same also belongs, i don't give a damn about either of them

people who are "it's all about me" don't need to be in a society of almost 7 billion people