Quadriplegic Serving 10-Day Sentence For Marijuana Possession Dies in Jail

[Ebowed]

Not new, but posters might find it interesting:

Quadriplegic Serving 10-Day Sentence For First-Time Marijuana Charge Dies In DC Jail

October 7, 2004 - Washington, DC, USA

Washington, DC: A 27-year-old quadriplegic man sentenced to serve ten days in a Washington, DC jail on charges that he possessed a minor amount of marijuana died while in custody last week due to inadequate health care, including prison officials' failure to provide him with a ventilator.

The victim, Jonathan Magbie, had been paralyzed from the neck down since the age of four, was unable to breath on his own, and required nursing care 20 hours a day.

Magbie was sentenced to spend ten days in jail on September 20, 2004 after pleading guilty to one charge of marijuana possession. Though prosecutors had recommended probation, the judge in the case ordered Magbie to serve jail time - noting that the defendant had told pre-sentence investigators that he would continue using marijuana because it made him feel better.

NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup called Magbie's death "one of the most tragic results of marijuana prohibition I have witnessed in the 35-year history of the organization."

He concluded: "Although Jonathan Magbie died from causes currently under investigation, it is clear that his death was the result of the overly punitive laws criminalizing the use and possession of marijuana. There is little doubt that were it not for marijuana prohibition, Jonathan Magbie would still be alive today. He did not deserve to die for smoking marijuana."

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6282

[Ban my account ffs!]

Which is why you will find nary a person with common sense that is against decriminalizing marijuana.

We need to make methods of making yourself feel better that don't pose a threat to others or really even yourself completely safe and legal in this country.  The government could tax the sale of marijuana  to help pay for addiction programs of all sorts.

We are a nation heading in the direction where unhealthy people will be working much harder for less for later into their life.  Pain relief, while really just a band aid on a gaping wound, would at least ease some of the suffering of the working poor in this country.

[dead0man]

Prohibition was terrible in the 30's and it's just as bad now.  As long as conservatives keep legislating morality we'll never be a truly free country.

[minionofmidas]

Washington, DC: A 27-year-old quadriplegic man sentenced to serve ten days in a Washington, DC jail on charges that he possessed a minor amount of marijuana died while in custody last week due to inadequate health care, including prison officials' failure to provide him with a ventilator.

This is murder, and should have been treated as such.

[Gabu]

Well, that oughtta teach those goddamn dopers a lesson.

I'll get back to you when I figure out what that lesson is.

[J. J.]

A serious question:  If the guy had been in jail for trespassing, or some other "minor" crime, would you still be complaining?

[Gabu]

A serious question:  If the guy had been in jail for trespassing, or some other "minor" crime, would you still be complaining?

He's a quadriplegic.  How do you expect a quadriplegic to trespass?

[John Dibble]

A serious question:  If the guy had been in jail for trespassing, or some other "minor" crime, would you still be complaining?

He's a quadriplegic.  How do expect a quadriplegic to trespass?

Well clearly he'd be a witch or something like that.

[dead0man]

A serious question:  If the guy had been in jail for trespassing, or some other "minor" crime, would you still be complaining?

"trespassing" is a much more severe "crime" than getting high is.  Trespassing is a crime against somebody, getting high is only a crime because some people think it's harmfull.  There is a victim with trespassing, there is no victim when somebody gets high.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Absolutely revolting.

[J. J.]

A serious question:  If the guy had been in jail for trespassing, or some other "minor" crime, would you still be complaining?

He's a quadriplegic.  How do you expect a quadriplegic to trespass?

Ever hear of a motorized wheelchair?  Ever hear of an assistant or an aide.

[J. J.]

A serious question:  If the guy had been in jail for trespassing, or some other "minor" crime, would you still be complaining?

"trespassing" is a much more severe "crime" than getting high is.  Trespassing is a crime against somebody, getting high is only a crime because some people think it's harmfull.  There is a victim with trespassing, there is no victim when somebody gets high.

Dead0Man, you just answered my question.

[Gabu]

A serious question:  If the guy had been in jail for trespassing, or some other "minor" crime, would you still be complaining?

He's a quadriplegic.  How do you expect a quadriplegic to trespass?

Ever hear of a motorized wheelchair?  Ever hear of an assistant or an aide.

So what's he going to do?  Have his assistant wheel him onto someone's property so he can go "LOOK AT ME I'M TOTALLY TRESPASSING OVER HERE"?

Either way, if he was arrested for trespassing and died in prison, yes, I'd say I'd be complaining.

Of course, marijuana possession shouldn't even be a crime, so the two aren't even comparable, even so.

[dead0man]

Dead0Man, you just answered my question.

Good.  I hope you learned that your analogy is lacking.  I hope you've learned that there is a difference between a crime with a victim (trespassing) and one without (smoking pot).  While a guy dying in prison because he couldn't get his normal medical care would be a tragedy if he was only there for something minor like trespassing or shoplifting, it would be a little easier to swallow because those are actual crimes.  Somebody dying in prison under the same circumstances, but being there because of a victimless crime is a slap in the face of what this country was founded on.  The fact that there are tens of millions of people in prison right now for buying pot or sex is the true tragedy.

[Person Man]

Dead0Man, you just answered my question.

Good.  I hope you learned that your analogy is lacking.  I hope you've learned that there is a difference between a crime with a victim (trespassing) and one without (smoking pot).  While a guy dying in prison because he couldn't get his normal medical care would be a tragedy if he was only there for something minor like trespassing or shoplifting, it would be a little easier to swallow because those are actual crimes.  Somebody dying in prison under the same circumstances, but being there because of a victimless crime is a slap in the face of what this country was founded on.  The fact that there are tens of millions of people in prison right now for buying pot or sex is the true tragedy.

Agreed. Though, nothing will be done about it until the prison population reaches TRULY crisis levels. I wonder what a "War on Abortion", a "War on File Sharing", a "War on Guns" or a smoking ban(a REAL smoking ban) would do to the prison population.

[minionofmidas]

A serious question:  If the guy had been in jail for trespassing, or some other "minor" crime, would you still be complaining?

"trespassing" is a much more severe "crime" than getting high is.  Trespassing is a crime against somebody, getting high is only a crime because some people think it's harmfull.  There is a victim with trespassing, there is no victim when somebody gets high.

Dead0Man, you just answered my question.

He outlined the Silly Libertarian position. Most of the people "complaining" were not from that school of thought.
Here's my view:
While the fact that he was a political prisoner* adds an extra special revolting twist, it is not central to my position here at all. The State has a special responsibility for convicts since it deprives them of fundamental rights and of the ability to care for themselves. When people die in prison because state officials don't give a fuck, then I want said officials punished. This fundamentally even to the murder of Jeffrey Dahmer - but denying medical attention to an obviously heavily disabled convict is right on the same level with what Dahmer did if you ask me.

*No, I'm not considering every victim of the War on Drugs a "political prisoner". But this guy was in for illegally using marijuana for medical purposes, and I would consider his trial and sentence (and presumably, his stand in pre-trial negotiations as well) as entirely politically motivated.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Trespass certainly shouldn't be a crime. A civil offense, maybe.

[Bono]

Trespass certainly shouldn't be a crime. A civil offense, maybe.

Define trespass.

[J. J.]

Dead0Man, you just answered my question.

Good.  I hope you learned that your analogy is lacking.  I hope you've learned that there is a difference between a crime with a victim (trespassing) and one without (smoking pot).  While a guy dying in prison because he couldn't get his normal medical care would be a tragedy if he was only there for something minor like trespassing or shoplifting, it would be a little easier to swallow because those are actual crimes.  Somebody dying in prison under the same circumstances, but being there because of a victimless crime is a slap in the face of what this country was founded on.  The fact that there are tens of millions of people in prison right now for buying pot or sex is the true tragedy.

Trespassing may be victimless in that the trespasser did no damage while trespessaing.

I'm trying to see what you were more concerned about, that a man in jail for possession died or that a disabled individual was denied life sustaining medical attention while in jail.

While I don't agree that someone should be jailed for possession, I am outraged that the man's right to medical attention  was denied.  This is especially true since it was a government violating the Americans With Disabilities Act.

AW and Dead0man, got it wrong, Gabu barely got it, but kudos to Lewis, who had it perfect.