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| Condemned Inmate Wants Artificial Leg |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/04/2002 |
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Convicted killer Rodolfo Hernandez wants two legs by the time he makes that final, 50-foot journey to the death chamber next month. But he says the prison system is stalling on his request for an artificial limb. Hernandez, whose left leg was amputated four inches below the knee last July because of complications from diabetes, says the state does not want to spend the money because he is set to be executed. Prison officials, though, say a persistent, antibiotic-resistant staph infection is preventing Hernandez from being fitted with a prosthesis. They say the cost is not an issue, and neither is his impending execution. 'Just because he has an execution date doesn't mean we would deny him medical treatment,' says Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 'It all depends on when his infection clears.' Hernandez, 52, is set for lethal injection March 21 for his part in robbing and shooting five illegal Mexican immigrants who had crossed into Texas in a boxcar in 1985. One of the five was killed. Hernandez contends he is innocent. Of the 454 men and women on death row in Texas, Hernandez is the only amputee. Hernandez will not exactly say whether he wants to walk the final 50 feet from a holding cell to his death. But he says: 'I came in here with two legs. I'd like to go out of here with two.' The prison system provides artificial limbs to inmates who need one to safely perform 'major functional activities,' and walking qualifies as such an activity, Lyons says. Prison policy also says preparations for a prosthesis will go forward even if the inmate 'will not be in the system for a sufficient period of time' to receive the device. Of the state prison system's 143,500 inmates, 137 are receiving treatment through a prosthetic clinic. An artificial limb after an above-the-knee amputation averages $15,000; for a below-the-knee amputation, like Hernandez's, the cost is less, but officials were unable to say how much. Hernandez uses a walker inside his cell and a wheelchair outside it. He is on medication to combat the infection and also has daily insulin injections. |
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