Inmate's Death Leaves Lessons for U.S. 'Justice' System
Inmate's Death Leaves Lessons for U.S. 'Justice' System
Feb 03, 2016
by Nat Hentoff and Nick Hentoff
Carlos Tapia-Ponce, the 94-year-old federal prisoner we have been writing about ("A Slow, Lonely Death in Prison" and "Dying in Prison for Love of Family"
is finally going home. Tapia-Ponce died on Monday in a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) medical facility in Raleigh, North Carolina. His remains will be cremated and mailed to his daughters in Juarez, Mexico. His death leaves us with important lessons for the future of the U.S. criminal justice system
A week ago, Ellen Lake, Tapia-Ponce's pro bono attorney, emailed U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker. She asked for an urgent meeting to discuss Decker's continued opposition to her dying client's request for a compassionate release. Under federal law, only the BOP can petition a court for the compassionate release of a federal prisoner.
Attached to Lake's email was a letter from Mexico's Ambassador to the United States, Miguel Basanez, the former director of the Judicial Reform Program at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Ambassador Basanez reported that during a recent consular visit at the BOP's medical center, Tapia-Ponce was found to be suffering from a severe gastric ulcer that made it difficult for him to eat. The condition, Basanez said, reduced Tapia-Ponce's life expectancy "in the short term."
Basanez argued that Tapia-Ponce had "a consistent history of good behavior in prison," "no history of violence" and was "not likely to pose a threat to any of our societies, if released and repatriated to Mexico."
More:
http://www.uexpress.com/sweet-land-of-liberty/2016/2/3/inmates-death-leaves-lessons-for-us
Good Reads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016143465
