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What a callous, despicable bitch of
a judge. This shows a total lack of understanding of SCI and its
effect on a person. My heart goes out to this family. I hope all
those involved have nightmares of this young man's suffering until their
own death.
Jerry - a father who lost his own
son to SCI 6/27/2004
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 11:53
AM
Subject: [QUAD-L] A Death Sentence
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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