Prostitute (Marcia Powell) Died After Being Held In Scorching Outdoor Prison Cell

[Catherine Vincent]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526132,00.html
Prostitute Dies After Being Held in Scorching Outdoor Prison Cell
Saturday, June 13, 2009


PHOENIX — A prostitute doing time behind bars, Marcia Powell was temporarily moved one day last month to an outdoor holding pen with nothing but a chain-link-fence roof to shield her from the searing desert sun.

She lasted less than four hours.

Powell, 48, collapsed in the 108-degree heat and died at a hospital the next day, touching off a criminal investigation and bringing an abrupt end to a little-known practice in Arizona's prison system that inmate-rights activists found repellent.

Donna Leone Hamm, director of the local nonprofit Middle Ground Prison Reform, called the outdoor cages barbaric.

"There's something medieval about it," she said. "It doesn't comport with any humane or community standard that we would ordinarily think of for any animal, including a human."

Arizona's 10 state prisons have 233 outdoor cells for temporarily holding inmates awaiting transfer to punishment wards, medical units, other prisons or work assignments. All four sides and the roof of each cell are made of chain-link fence. Some have coverings that provide shade; others do not.


:( :cry:

[panader0]

1. Another example of Sherrif Joe's cruel and unusual punishment

I hope he has to spend time in his own jail soon.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. Actually it did not happen in his jail but the Perryman State prison

Doesn't mean I support Sheriff Joe, but this can not be rightly attributed to him

[BlooInBloo]

2. I thought that was a month or two ago, and that they had since permanently discontinued the practice

[Catherine Vincent]

5. I believe it was in May

The cages may have shades now.

[Not Me]

3. Sheriff Joe should be tried for murder

This pathetic masochist needs to answer for his deeds.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

17. This was not one of his, it was at a state prision

[jmondine]

21. Don't you mean Sadist?

[populistdriven]

4. foxnews is blocked by my opendns

[Joanne98]

6. Sherriff Joe a sadistic sicko!

[lies and propaganda]

7. Sheriff Joes Circus of Death

I cannot tell you how many people I know of that died while I lived in Phoenix last year.

criminals or not, NO ONE can spend 5 hours in the Phoenix sounds with no water.

all outdoor prisons in AZ have been suspended for now.

The ancient snowbirds that assail on Phoenix for the winter will vote his crazy ass in election after election.

[Catherine Vincent]

8. Who is this Sheriff Joe?

For those not from Arizona.

[TahitiNut]

10. Easily Googled

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio

[lies and propaganda]

11. "The World Toughest Sheriff"

or so he and his denizens think of him to be.

Some highlights:
he has made Tent Cities instead of jails, really horrid during the summer.
No water to said prisoners
He Dyes their food green
He has killed or let be killed countless mentally handicapped prisoners.
He is currently parking Phx cops outside the AG and multiples judges homes..

i could go on and on.

Google Sheriff Joe Arpaio if you are in need of a good diet technique.

[jmowreader]

20. I'm shocked. Really I am

Catherine, you've got 30,000 posts and you don't know who Joe Arpaio is? We discuss him a lot here.

Check the archives. In 2008, I rated the Joe Arpaio-Dan Saban sheriff's contest in Maricopa County, Arizona, as the most important local election in the United States. More important than anything including California's Proposition 8, and I thought its defeat was pretty damn important too.

Joe Arpaio is America's most corrupt sheriff. He runs a county jail with 10,000 inmates. Now I want you to consider this: the population of Maricopa County, AZ, is 4 million, and the population of the entire state of Arizona is 6.5 million. Therefore, of every 650 Arizona residents, one of them is sitting in the Phoenix jail.

Controversy follows Sheriff Joe at every turn. His prison uniforms are a bit eclectic. He uses old-fashioned striped jumpsuits, and all the rest of a prisoner's issue is pink. (Sheriff Joe started this practice when he found out released inmates were taking their prison-issue underwear home with them. The sane liberal would be correct to think, "this maniac reissues underwear? The fucking Marines don't even do that!" He has chain gangs, including the world's first all-woman and all-juvenile chain gangs. He pays 35 cents per meal (up from 15 cents) to feed his charges, and green bologna is a popular (well, for him anyway) dish served in his slammer. And it gets better: the latest press release on the MCSO website is about the first-ever Zero Cost Meal ever served to his inmates. Okay, it's not exactly zero cost: the University of Arizona's ag school donated two and a half tons of cow's liver and the Maricopa County Shrine Club donated a thousand pounds of onions in honor of Sheriff Dickhead's birthday, which is today. (Liver and onions is his favorite food. It is my experience that just about everyone who claims that dish to be his favorite meal is a complete asshole.) He really likes going after illegal immigrants. And we can't possibly forget Sheriff Joe's Tent City jail.

All this would be marginally acceptable if it cut the crime rate; however, the crime rate in Maricopa County, AZ, has gone up every year this man has been sheriff. Which is why I thought Arpaio's defeat was the most important race in the country.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

18. It was in a state jail, not countly lockup

[prolesunited]

9. Thing is if someone did this to a dog

They would be charged with animal cruelty.

[Canuckistanian]

12. How does this NOT violate the 8th Amendment?

This is a pretty clear case of "cruel and unusual punishment"

[pansypoo53219]

13. a hot box before a medical unit???

this sounds illegal.

[cagesoulman]

14. Locking up prostitutes is just fucked up anyway

Where there's a fucking demand there's a fucking supply.

[EndersDame]

25. I agree legalize prostitution : Itis a public safety and health issue

One taxed brothels could be set up to follow a series of regulations that protect the safety of the Sex Workers and screen for diseases

[Schema Thing]

15. ugh

too sad for words.

[jwirr]

19. Medieval indeed. Wasn't one of the women related to Robert the Bruce

placed in an outdoor cage by the British government?

[leftofthedial]

22. but, but, but, Arizona has all those golf courses and Spring Training!

It can't be all bad...

[jmondine]

23. What's even more sad is that this person was not guilty of any violent crime

Prostitution is at best a "victimless" crime.
At its worst, in a repressive, chauvinistic society with no viable safety net, those who turn to prostitution out of desperation are themselves the victims.

[Ptah]

24. Ariz. ends outdoor prison cells after inmate death

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gsV8vjqxQYd1axkrcnJIPHOyKSFAD98J05481


By JONATHAN J. COOPER – Jun 2, 2009

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona is ending its use of outdoor prison cells after an inmate died in triple-digit heat last month, the corrections department said Tuesday.

Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson said in an e-mail that the decision came after consulting with Gov. Jan Brewer's office.

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said "the governor made a judgment that she didn't desire this usage."

"It's certainly to prevent any future exposure out in the elements," he said, adding that Brewer believes indoor cells would be a good replacement for the outdoor ones.

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