California Prisoner's Gruesome Death Probed

LA Times via Yahoo! News ^ | 2/5/04 | Mark Arax - LA Times

[NormsRevenge]

FRESNO — All through the night, the howls kept coming from the cell of inmate Ronald Herrera.

More than one guard at Corcoran State Prison thought something was terribly amiss. Herrera wouldn't stop screaming late Sunday, and he had covered his cell window in a curtain of toilet paper soaked in blood.

One guard had seen Herrera, a dialysis patient suffering from hepatitis, pull out the medical shunt from his arm, corrections officials said. But when the guard later tried to check on the inmate, his sergeant told him not to bother, they said. "He's not dead," the sergeant was quoted by officials as saying. "Just keep an eye on him."

The next morning, the howls had given way to silence. As a new shift made its checks, a guard saw what he said looked to be "raspberry Kool-Aid" streaming out from the cell. Inside, he found Herrera slumped over on the floor, lifeless.

[NormsRevenge]

.

[joesnuffy]

Hepatitis being very contagious........

[bassmaner]

I can't wait for the "law and order" types to flock in here and claim that this guy got what he deserved and the guards are not responsible for his reprehensible treatment.

They're usually the same ones that show up to cheer the WOD on the drug war threads ...

[Iron Matron]

I can't wait for the "law and order" types to flock in here and claim that this guy got what he deserved and the guards are not responsible for his reprehensible treatment.




It's a tough call to make I guess. From the original article:

A corrections spokesman said Herrera had a long rap sheet that included convictions for burglary and rape in San Bernardino County. Because of his status as a sex offender, he was housed in the prison's administrative-segregation unit. In recent months, he had been the victim of an inmate assault.

[bassmaner]

Welcome to FR!

Believe me, I'm not giving this creep a pass. Personally, considering his rap sheet, I would have liked to see him fry. But the bottom line is - he was sentenced to a prison term as punishment, not a death sentence. I have a problem with those who believe that it's OK for prisoners in America to be treated like Nazi or Soviet concentration camp inmates: we have Amendment VIII that forbids "cruel and unusual punishment", and, IMHO, this qualifies as such.

[gridlock]

"We're not satisfied with the written reports we've gotten so far from staff," he (the Prosecutor) said. "One of the things we're looking at is whether staff knew he was in trouble and failed to take the proper steps."

This guy's got to be kidding me. These guards let somebody bleed out, and his standard is whether or not they knew the prisoner was dying and failed to do something about it. How about holding the guards to the standard of having to determine whether or not the prisoner is dying? How about requiring them to peek inside when somebody is howling in pain and the windows are covered in blood?

You already know how this will turn out. A tragic accident. The guards did not know, etc. Never mind that they had a duty to know, had a standard operating procedure that would have made sure that they knew, but they just didn't give a (hoot).

Typical union thugs.

[Britton J Wingfield]

This guy is a scumbag, but the prison is responsible for him as long as he is in their custody. They knew damn well that *something* was wrong, and they failed in their obligation to check it out.

I have a lot of friends who are corrections officers, and are good guys. I'd still want to see them given the boot if they failed in their duties like this.

[The Black Knight]

I will say that the guards were negligent, but I will also say that this guy DEFINITELY got what he deserved.

If you've ever had a friend get raped (or daughter, wife, whatever), you'd understand.

So I guess I'm 50/50 on this one.

[Born Conservative]

His record and reason for incarceration have nothing to do with this; if he was left to bleed out (as it sounds like from the description in the article), then there needs to be punishment against those responsible for allowing this to occur. Prisoners don't deserve to have cable TV, fancy facilities, etc., but they also don't deserve to be neglected to the point that they die.

[Iron Matron]

Thanks for the welcome!

You are right of course. Prisoners in the United States should be treated humanely, at least as well as those at gitmo. The prison gaurds turned a deaf ear to pain this man was in, perhaps thinking he deserved to suffer at least as much as his victims.

That does not make it right of course, but I wonder WHO he raped? A child perhaps? Had to be something pretty bad, I'd guess.

[AppyPappy]

He killed himself. One less mouth to feed.

[bassmaner]

I will say that the guards were negligent, but I will also say that this guy DEFINITELY got what he deserved.

If you've ever had a friend get raped (or daughter, wife, whatever), you'd understand.

I understand your point, but in reality, it could just as easily have been a young kid with an otherwise clean record (but no political connections) serving a decade-plus mandatory minimum sentence for petty dope dealing instead of a serial-raping scumbag.

Considering the fact that over 2 million Americans are incarcerated today (and an ever-increasing number of those 2 million are there for non-violent, victimless offenses), it's critical that the corrections establishment is held accountable when events like this occur.

[evets]

That's terrible. They should issue every prisoner a rope. Herrera had a long rap sheet that included convictions for burglary and rape

[The Black Knight]

I never said that the guards weren't negligible, did I? In fact, I hope the people responsible for this get thrown out on their butt.

HOWEVER, I do happen to love it when Karma comes back and bites a rapist/murderer/terrorist/etc.

[mtbopfuyn]

One less rapist that'll be on the streets. God works in mysterious ways.

[Judith Anne]

More than one guard at Corcoran State Prison thought something was terribly amiss. Herrera wouldn't stop screaming late Sunday, and he had covered his cell window in a curtain of toilet paper soaked in blood.

He pulled out his dialysis shunt all by himself, soaked toilet paper in his hepatitis infected blood, and used it to cover his window, plus he was screaming. Sounds to me like he was trying to get out of his cell and into the prison hospital. I'll bet he'd done similar things before. Trouble is, this time he bled out...

Prisoners often try to fake seizures in order to get downers, get out of jail and to a hospital...prisoners injure themselves in order to get pain medication, prisoners think up all kinds of interesting variations on "I'm sick" in order to get meds and a change of scenery...this guy's dialysis was free of charge, paid by the taxpayer...prisoners claim suicidal depression--and who knows, maybe it's true...

/i>This is just my opinion from what I read in the article.

[tiamat]

Thank you.

Sometimes the attitude of some Freepers really bothers me.... those who believe that prisoners ought to be treated like concentration camp inmates, as you say.

While I do not believe in coddling inmates, neither do I think they ought to be tortured or neglected aas this man clearly was.

[archy]

They're usually the same ones that show up to cheer the WOD on the drug war threads ...

Almost. Unless it's a [fellow?] crooked cop caught with his or her fingers in the narcotics cookiebowl. Professional courtesy, dontcha know....

[BurbankKarl]

I blame Janet Jackson...

I bet the TV room had TiVo