I find my patients more polite and reasonable than my average private practice patient. The basic rule of thumb for inmates is that you don’t want to piss off the healthcare staff.
And I feel safer working in a prison than I did all those years working in hospitals, private offices, urgent care clinics, etc. Anybody could walk in, no damn security, and no real plans for dealing with angry, disruptive people.
I wear a body alarm in prison. In my nearly 15 years here, I’ve never had to activate it. And it’s very infrequent that I have an officer with me when seeing a patient.
An exception becomes precedent.
“We sentence Carnivorousplant to death for not paying for his coffee.”
“The death penalty is unfair.”
“They did it to Charles Manson.”
“Hunh. OK, whack CP, but do it outside so you don’t get blood everywhere.”
Manson and his followers have been in prison over 45 years. Commuting their death sentences to life has been quite costly. Some of the women could easily live another 15 years.
It seems pointless when there’s no chance what so ever that these criminals can ever be released.
Commuting their death sentences has likely saved California money.
The death penalty is extremely costly to administer.
In California:
• the state has spent more than $4 billion on death penalty cases since the death penalty was re-instated in 1978;
• that works out to $308 million for each of the 13 executions carried out since 1978 in California;
• death penalty trials, enhanced security on death row and enhanced legal representation adds $184 million annually to California’s budget;
• That is $184 million more than non-death penalty inmates;
• a death penalty case costs up to 20 times more than a case where the penalty is life without parole;
• the least expensive death penalty case costs at least $1.1 million more than the most expensive life without parole case;
• jury selection in death penalty trials takes 3 to 4 weeks more than a life without parole trial and costs $200,000 more;
• the heightened security practices required for death row inmates is more than $100,000 per year than non-death row inmates, for a total addition to the California budget of $72 million per year.
I’m a death penalty supporter, but I’m an even bigger supporter of the Constitution. Criminal penalties should never be increased post-sentencing, only decreased (albeit only with good reason.)
From this morning’s MSN news:
*Manson, now 82, has had “hundreds” of rules violations, prison officials say, and has been in trouble for having a cellphone and a homemade weapon while incarcerated.
*
I’m doing clinical right now to become a Radiation Therapist and the rotation I’m at right now treats the state medical prisoners with cancer. My experience is similar, across the board they are the most polite, thankful, most compliant patients we see and they never complain, the regular patients on the other hand…
My old dentist shared his office with another dentist who had previously worked for the prison system, mainly to help get his student loans paid off after he graduated. (I know that at one time, the USPHS would pay off up to $30,000 for every year you worked for them, up to 3 years.) He said he didn’t really enjoy it and left when he fulfilled his service.
In my old town, there was an ad in the paper for RNs, men only. They would be working at the intake clinic of a men’s prison in the area, and I mentioned this on a mostly-women board where we were talking about gender discrimination in the workplace, and I posted that to support the concept that there are places where women don’t belong (and vice versa). One poster was so persistent in saying, “But why can’t they just hire extra security?” that I said, “Why don’t I PM you the prison’s contact information so you can ask them directly?” and she finally gave up. :rolleyes: :smack:
Corcoran is outside of my hospital’s catchment area, but not by much. We have a medical guard unit, but they always start in the ER, you might be surprised the sort of small change complaints that get sent out.
I first read that when I was in my early teens and regularly babysat for a family who had that book. Didn’t fully comprehend just how scary it was until I re-read it as an adult, after it was reissued with an update from the now-deceased Victor Bugliosi.
You might well get your wish. Speculating a bit here, article says “stomach problem”, must be something serious for him to be moved. If it’s stomach cancer / intestinal cancer then yes he will have a long slow and painful death.
I initially thought Manson might have stroked out or had a major coronary. I guess the optimism was a bit premature. He’s apparently very sick but it won’t be a quick death.
Hopefully 2017 will finally bring a little justice to this case.
Sharon Tate’s child would be 47 now. IIRC Sharon was only a few weeks from her due date.
