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US DC: Editorial: An Inmate's Death
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1396/a08.html
Newshawk: Another Medical Cannabis User Murdered
Votes: 1
Pubdate: Sat, 02 Oct 2004
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: A20
Copyright: 2004 The Washington Post Company
Contact: letters@washpost.com
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Related: the Washington Post article 'D.C. Jail Stay Ends in Death For
Quadriplegic MD Man' http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1394/a10.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
AN INMATE'S DEATH
Judith E. Retchin, Associate Judge, D.C. Superior Court: "I checked with
the Chief's [Chief Judge Rufus G. King III] office, and the jail should be
able to accommodate all of his medical needs. I checked with them last
week."
Boniface Cobbina, an attorney for Jonathan Magbie: "Very well."
The deputy clerk: "So he doesn't need to do a medical alert?"
Judge Retchin: "Yes. He [Mr. Cobbina] still should fill out the medical
alert. I just wanted to make sure they would be able to attend to his
needs."
- - Sept. 20 transcript from the court case of Jonathan Magbie
AND WITH THAT, the proceedings were concluded, and Jonathan Magbie, a
27-year-old quadriplegic who had been unable to breathe on his own since he
was 4, was sent to a Corrections Department facility for 10 days for
marijuana possession. Four days later he was dead. The short period
between sentencing and his death is a story of what can happen when an
impersonal system treats inmates as if they are nobodies with no one to turn
to.
The marijuana charge was Mr. Magbie's first offense. He pleaded guilty to
the charge but told the presentencing officials that using marijuana made
him feel better and that he didn't believe there was anything wrong with
using it. Judge Retchin also noted during sentencing that cocaine was found
in Mr. Magbie's coat and a loaded gun in the car in which he was riding.
Despite a recommendation of probation by the presentencing office and the
lack of objection from the prosecution, Judge Retchin told Mr. Magbie that
it was unacceptable to have a loaded gun in the city. "And I believe under
all of the circumstances here, the appropriate sentence is ten days in jail
[and] a Victim's Assessment of fifty dollars."
Then the buck-passing began. After arriving at the D.C. jail, Mr. Magbie
was evaluated as needing "acute medical attention" and nearly nine hours
later was shipped to Greater Southeast Community Hospital, which has handled
inmate hospitalizations since the closure of D.C. General Hospital.
Greater Southeast, however, discharged Mr. Magbie the next day and sent him
to the Correctional Treatment Facility ( CTF ), another Corrections
Department unit near the jail. A physician at the CTF concluded that Mr.
Magbie belonged at the hospital and asked that he be taken back, but Greater
Southeast refused. The physician then asked Judge Retchin to order the
hospital to take Mr. Magbie, but the judge said she didn't have the power.
And there at CTF Mr. Magbie stayed.
After his mother, Mary Scott, and his lawyer haggled with the medical staff
for two days, she was finally permitted to bring his ventilator to the
building. By the time Ms. Scott got there, her son had been taken back to
Greater Southeast. He died that night.
Yesterday, we asked the chief judge's office if the matter of Jonathan
Magbie was closed or under review. The case is closed, we were told, but
Chief Judge King has arranged a meeting with Odie Washington, director of
the Corrections Department. They will review in detail the department's
ability to handle different medical conditions at the jail, the CTF and
Greater Southeast to make sure that judges fully understand the medical
capacity of all Corrections Department facilities. If necessary, we were
advised, the chief judge would arrange a training program for Superior Court
judges.
But did Mr. Magbie deserve jail? Why was he sent to the hospital? Why did
the hospital discharge him and refuse to take him back? Why did two days
elapse before he could get his ventilator? Why is his case closed?
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
************************
Mark
Sign on my front door
___________________________
Notice posted.
This is not a peanut free zone!
The use of adult beverages, tobacco products, sugar,
salt, caffeine, high fat foods and firearms (when necessary)
is encouraged on these premises.
Jack-booted government thugs without warrants
will be shot upon entry.
Have a nice day :-)
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