cannabisnews.com: Health Costs Earn Inmate Ticket Home 





Health Costs Earn Inmate Ticket Home 
Posted by FoM on May 24, 2000 at 13:37:29 PT
By Mike McCloy, The Arizona Republic
Source: Arizona Republic
A woman born without arms or legs but convicted of dealing marijuana was sent home to Kingman on Tuesday because it costs taxpayers too much to keep her in prison, officials said. Deborah Lynn Quinn, 39, pleaded guilty in October to selling about four grams of marijuana to a police informant for $20. 
A probation officer later found four ounces of marijuana in her home, and Quinn was sent to prison Feb. 8 to serve 18 months. Quinn depends on others for virtually all her physical needs. She was kept in a mostly-male detention unit at St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson at a cost of $461 a day, compared with the $52 daily average for the state's 26,000 inmates, state corrections director Terry Stewart said. "It would be inappropriate for her to be cared for in this environment until her release date," Stewart said. Donna Hamm, head of the Middle Ground prison reform group in Tempe, said many other inmates should be considered for medical furlough. "There are plenty of people on kidney dialysis three and four times a week," Hamm said. "One inmate has cranial injuries so severe that he has an open hole in his skull." Stewart said dialysis and care for other serious ailments is readily available in state prisons. Twenty men with needs similar to Quinn's are housed in a special unit at the prison in Florence. "If we had a unit like that for women, Deborah Lynn Quinn would have been in that unit," Stewart said. "We use our own medical personnel there, and other inmates can help with the care." Medical condition and state laws forbidding release of violent offenders are considered when prison furloughs are requested. While Quinn lives at home and attends drug counseling, Mohave County sheriff's deputies will supervise her closely -- taking urine samples and visiting without notice, Stewart said. Deputy Mohave County Attorney Jace Zack said Quinn, who isn't violent, was sent to prison only as a last resort. "She wouldn't comply with probation," Zack said. "You can't reward her." Stewart said Quinn could return to prison if she violates conditions of her release. Reach the reporter at Mike.McCloy ArizonaRepublic.com or (602) 444-8111.  Published: May 24, 2000Copyright 2000, Arizona CentralRelated Articles: Handicapped Woman Center of Prison Flaphttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread4735.shtmlSeverely Disabled Offender To Do Prison Timehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread4683.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on May 24, 2000 at 17:30:42 PT
Gov. Gary Johnson On Sam Donaldson's Program
Hi Everyone,I am watching the program now! I like how outspoken he is!They are also talking about the fires in New Mexico.Welcome to SamDonaldson ABCNEWS.com, an Internet-only Webcast featuring interviews with newsmakers and innovators.  May 24, 2000The Los Alamos fires put New Mexico's governor in the national headlines. Governor Gary Johnson is fighting to make sure the fire victims get what they deserve. But Johnson isn't new to the spotlight. His controversial call to legalize marijuana makes him the highest-ranking elected official to push the new drug strategy at the national level. Got something to say? Send Sam an email. http://abcnews.go.com/onair/samdonaldson/000524_sam/000524_sam_intro.html
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on May 24, 2000 at 17:22:29 PT:
He'd have lots of company, Dank
Please note the publicly stated rationale for this unfortunate woman's release:A woman born without arms or legs...was sent home to Kingman on Tuesday because it costs taxpayers too much to keep her in prison, officials said. But, if they just had more money (wink, wink, nudge,nudge):"If we had a unit like that for women, Deborah Lynn Quinn would have been in that unit," Stewart said. "We use our own medical personnel there, and other inmates can help with the care." Right. Ask yourself this question: why would a doctor work for the prison system? Not good enough for an 'outside' practice, perhaps? And would you willingly entrust your health to someone like that? Or perhaps the *real* consideration was that, from the bean-counters point of view, they couldn't force her to work as they do other inmates. She took up much more capital than she could possibly repay with her laboring in de facto prison 'sweatshops'. So they let her go.Yep, from the snitch who sold her out all the way up the line to the heights of government, the DrugWarriors have a lot to answer for. Compassion, for all the blather they make about it, is something alien to them. They better pray that when the worm finally turns - as it eventually will - that their former victims don't forget the meaning of the word as well.God knows, some of have been given good reason to.
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Comment #1 posted by Dankhank on May 24, 2000 at 13:46:53 PT:
A Medal to the Informant
IT IS WITH GREAT PERSONAL PLEASURE THAT I SAY I WOULD LIKE TO MEET THE INFORMER THAT TURNED THIS UNFORTUNATE WOMAN IN AND AWARD HIM A PURPLE HEART WITH HEMP LEAF CLUSTER ...THE INFORMANT IS OBVIOUSLY SO DEPRAVED BY WHATEVER PERSONAL DEVILS HAUNT HIM AS TO BELIEVE THAT HE IS SOMEHOW MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE TIDE OF THE DRUG WAR.AND A MEDAL TO THE POLICE JURISDICTION THAT PERSUED THE CASE TO IMPRISIONMENT. CASES SUCH AS YOURS WILL BE CONSIGNED TO THE DUST HEAP OF LIFE AND TALKED ABOUT LIKE THE ONE SAYING A LANTERN MUST LEAD A CAR THROUGH TOWN, ( CIRCA 1909.)SOMETIMES I CAN ONLY SHAKE MY HEAD AND WINCE WHEN I SEE HOW LOW SOME PEOPLE HAVE GONE.PEACE ...
HEMP n STUFF
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