Arizona Justice

As it turns out, Arizona doesn't just hate brown people. They hate women too. Opened up a link on Twitter today that read "Prison spit-roasts woman; no problem says county". I assumed as the page loaded that it would report on a country where women are still treated as second class citizens, who could be stoned to death for things like adultery. When I realized that this story took place right here in America, I was shocked.

Now I'm outraged.

To sum up: a female prisoner of Perryville Prison in Goodyear had been placed in a "cage" exposed to the heat and sun in May of 2009. She was kept there for four hours despite prison policy stating such outdoor confinement be limited to two hours.

But apparently, in Arizona, they can make this stuff up as they go along.

Not only was she detained those extra two hours, her pleas for water and for restroom breaks reportedly fell on deaf ears. Allegedly she was even mocked as she further succumbed to dangerous heat. Reports say temperatures reached an unbearable 107 degrees that day.

When they found her unconscious body, she was covered in her own excrement.

She was actually alive when she was delivered to the hospital, but Arizona Department of Corrections director Charles Ryan - without any authority to do so - had her life support suspended.

Marcia Powell died in the early morning hours of May 20th, at only 48 years of age.

I'd like to put this in perspective.

1.) This woman was serving a 27 month sentence for prostitution. This was not a murderer, or a serial killer. She was a human being punished because there are men on this planet who see fit to pay for sexual services.

Where were her "clients" while she suffered under the blazing Arizona sun?

What is the sentencing guidelines for a man caught soliciting prostitution in Arizona, I wonder?

2.) This heinous crime took place in 2009, and I'm just now hearing about it. When a woman places a cat in a trash can, the world comes together in collective outrage almost instantaneously. When a woman is kept in a cage in 107 degree heat, somehow it gets swept under the rug for a year proving we have somehow lost our sympathy - and our humanity - in the process.

There would have been more outrage - and more justice - had she been a dog.

3.) This crime, and make no mistake about it - that's what this is - will not be prosecuted.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has decided not to prosecute the Arizona Department of Corrections for this gross negligence and virtual manslaughter - which defined under Arizona law is “[r]ecklessly causing the death of another person.”

Per the 3,000-page ADC report, Marcia pleaded to be taken back inside, but was ignored despite the sweltering heat.

The medical examiner also declared that the death resulted from complications of hyperthermia due to environmental heat exposure. That included dehydration, which would suggest that her requests for water were in fact denied, and acute renal failure. She was also covered in first and second degree thermal burns.

Toxicology reports also indicate Marcia was on a litany of medications; "Benztropine, a medication for Parkinson disease, the antipsychotic medication Haloperidol, and valproic acid, a mood-stabilizing drug used to treat depression and epilepsy."

Side effect of Benztropine:

Endocrine:
Hyperthermia, anidrosis, heat stroke.

Precautions regarding the use of Haloperidol, otherwise known as Haldol, in extreme temperatures:

"Certain psychiatric medications (including haloperidol- Haldol®, risperidone- Risperdal®, and others) block the body's message to the brain regarding the elevated temperature."

Haldol is also listed under tables for medications that can cause photosensitivity and have the potential to cause hyperthermia.

When her body was tested it had a core temperature of 108 degrees.

Yet her death has been ruled as "an accident".

If a child or a pet was punished in this way with the same results, American would have had the head of the person responsible.

Hell, if you forget to put sunscreen on your child and they get a burn, you run the risk of being reported to Child Protective Services.

God forbid you leave a dog alone in a car for ten minutes.

But because this woman was a prisoner, and the people responsible were the Department of Corrections - no further action is necessary, aside from a token action from the prison system to make outdoor confinement a little less archaic.

This did not happen in some third world country, or a dictatorship where women are often cruelly and unfairly punished. This happened in America. This happened in a country where there should be liberty and justice for all, and that shouldn't end at the prison door. This was not just a criminal. This was a woman. This was a human being, who was the sum of more than just her mistakes. That she had a long history of mental illness just makes this all the more upsetting.

I encourage every single person who reads this blog to take action. To spread the word. To demand accountability.

She died alone.

Be her voice now.