He survived the desert of Iraq four times, but couldn't survive the torture at home:
"Death in hot jail cell case highlights national problem; Older, mentally ill inmates face increased risk" by Jake Pearson | Associated Press May 18, 2014
NEW YORK — The case of a mentally ill homeless veteran who died in a 100-degree Rikers Island jail cell illustrates the dangers of extreme heat in lockups, an issue facing prisons across the nation as the inmate population gets older and more heavily medicated — and more at risk of overheating.
The paragraph is almost making it sound like it is the victim's fault. That's ill.
So there is NO CLIMATE-CONTROLLED AIR CONDITIONING in the PRISONS, huh?
Or is it just in staff offices?
Inmate advocates point out that many prisoners exposed to high temperatures are unable to cool themselves — by taking a cold shower or by sitting in an air-conditioned room — in a way people living outside prison walls regularly do.
‘‘This is not an issue of comfort and luxury,’’ said David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberty Union’s National Prison Project, who has litigated cases in Wisconsin and Arizona to provide appropriate cooling for inmates.
‘‘Prisons have an obligation, which no one disputes, to provide conditions that, while they don’t have to be comfortable, they can’t be deadly,’’ Fathi said. ‘‘But because of climate change, because of the changing population, heat is a deadly risk for many prisons and jails throughout the United States.’’
(Blog editor takes deep breath at the implication it was climate change -- forget about the harsh and brutal winter that is being blamed for a dead-in-the-water economy the last two quarters. Now they are sinking so low as to blame climate change for state murder! To what obscene level will they sink to next?)
"The recent wildfires in Southern California offer a glimpse of a more fiery future, according to scientists and federal and international reports. In the past three months, at least three studies have warned that wildfires are getting bigger and that manmade climate change is to blame.
Then tell John Kerry and Obummer to keep the jets grounded, 'kay?
And while you are at it, shut down the war machine, the biggest polluter on planet Earth.
‘‘The fires in California and here in Arizona are a clear example of what happens as the Earth warms, particularly as the West warms, and the warming caused by humans is making fire season longer and longer with each decade,’’ said University of Arizona geoscientist Jonathan Overpeck.
I was told a couple of days ago they were industrial accidents and set. Now who would want to do that to pu$h an agenda, huh? I mean, false flags never occur here in America.
Btw, did Blackwater ever get their training base last time?
Governor Jerry Brown said on ABC’s ‘‘This Week’’ that...."
He is prepared, and what is that next to him? Glad I never watch those programs anymore.
They caught the guy who set the fires. Another homeless vet. Sorry I'm getting a little hot.
The February death of 56-year-old former Marine Jerome Murdough is a jarring lesson in what can happen when cells overheat, even though it differed from the classic inmate heat death in some significant ways: It happened in the winter and was due to malfunctioning heating equipment.
WHAT?
But, but, but, I WAS TOLD ABOVE it was the EFFECT of CLIMATE CHANGE!
OMG!
This is the most DETESTABLE PROPAGANDA!
And it is STATE NEGLIGENCE and THUS MURDER, and the AmeriKan pre$$ is USING HIS DEATH to FLOG their FART-MISTING FRAUD!!!!
Talk about DISRESPECTING VETERANS! That's as bad if not worse than the fact that there ARE HOMELESS VETERANS in the first place! If this government doesn't care about them, why would they care about you, civilian zombie?
Officials haven’t said exactly how Murdough died. A preliminary city Department of Correction inquiry said the medical examiner investigator believed he died of hyperthermia, noting that ‘‘the heat in his cell caused his body to shut down,’’ according to court documents.
Heatstroke causes a person’s body temperature to increase rapidly — up to 106 degrees within 10 or 15 minutes — and can be fatal if not quickly treated. Other heat-related illnesses, such as heat exhaustion, rashes, fainting, are most likely to affect elderly and overweight people. Others particularly at risk include people with heart disease and asthma or those, like Murdough, who are taking psychotropic drugs.
Psychotropic medications can impair the body’s ability to cool itself by sweating, experts say. That’s a particular concern as the number of mentally ill inmates who take such drugs has risen steadily.
All so pharmaceuticals can get fat and the citizen can have his brain turned to mush. It's literally a captive population with no rights.
According to Bureau of Justice Statistics from 2005, the most recent year available, more than half of all jail and state prison inmates had a mental health problem.
Nationally, the bureau doesn’t track heat-related deaths in jails and prisons. But they do occur.
A report issued last month by the University of Texas School of Law’s Human Rights Clinic found that at least 14 inmates have died from exposure to extreme heat since 2007 in state correctional facilities. And a federal judge ruled in April that a special monitor will be appointed to make sure the heat index doesn’t top 88 degrees for death-row inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
The courts have likewise ruled that Arizona prisoners on psychotropic medication must be housed in a unit where the temperature is maintained at 85 degrees or below and Wisconsin was ordered to install air conditioning in a so-called Supermax state prison, Fathi said.
Courts have also ruled on heat conditions for prisoners in cases brought in Illinois, Georgia, and Delaware.
Some correctional officials have argued that upgrading decades-old facilities to be retrofitted with air-conditioning units is costly and complicated.
Yeah, we all need to $ervice wealth and the well-connected first.
They’ve also warned that air conditioning certain units, such as punitive segregation units, might encourage prisoners to act out in the hopes of landing a cooler bunk.
Why not do the whole place, and why wasn't it designed that way?
Nearly 800 New York City inmates are designated as heat sensitive by health staff and are supposed to be moved within hours to an air-conditioned unit when the outside temperature is above 85 degrees, the Correction Department says.
Of course, NONE OF THIS HAS TO DO WITH SUMMER HEAT and AIR-CONDITIONING!
It's the EXACT OPPOSITE!
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It is the obscene spin that is bringing me to a boil:
"Mother of veteran who died in hot jail cell plans $25m lawsuit | Associated Press May 17, 2014
NEW YORK — The mother for a mentally ill, homeless veteran who was found dead in a 101-degree New York City jail cell said Friday that she was angry at city officials for not keeping her son safe and announced plans for a $25 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city.
Were I on the jury she gets every penny, and if I can, a whole lot more.
‘‘I know he was yelling for help and nobody ever came,’’ Alma Murdough, 75, said at a news conference.
Her son, Jerome Murdough, 56, was jailed at the Rikers Island complex on a misdemeanor trespassing charge and was unable to make bail. He was discovered unresponsive in his cell in the early hours of Feb. 15, and a preliminary investigation found that his internal body temperature was 103 degrees and that the cell was 101.
In court papers filed Friday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, her attorney took a step toward suing the city, asking a judge to prohibit city officials from erasing any recordings regarding the death of his client’s son and to preserve and obtain all evidence — including 911 communications, photos, video, and logbooks.
I'll bet they have already destroyed lots of stuff, and still are.
The lawyer, Derek Sells, has argued that Murdough’s death was caused by carelessness and negligence by Department of Correction employees. The death was preventable, Sells said Friday. ‘‘That’s a very basic concept: Keep inmates safe,’’ he said. ‘‘And that’s what Rikers Island has failed to do, time and time again.’’
In a statement, mayoral spokeswoman Marti Adams said the administration would improve its efforts to make sure the DOC treated inmates appropriately.
‘‘Mr. Murdough was a Marine veteran, and his unfortunate death was a tragedy for this entire city,’’ she said.
And it will be in more way$ than one.
Prosecutors in the Bronx are investigating the death.
Corrections officials have declined to comment, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.
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I didn't see the name de Blasio, did you? Happened on his watch.
Related: Smelly Apple
