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| Release inmates who pose no threat? |
| By Sam Stanton, The Sacramento Bee, .fresnobee.com |
| Published: 05/19/2011 |
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Steven Charles Martinez is a 42-year-old quadriplegic who cannot care for himself in any way. He cannot feed or bathe himself, cannot brush his teeth. Because Martinez is an inmate at Corcoran State Prison, taxpayers are providing well over $500,000 annually for his medical care and will continue to do so if he remains in prison for the rest of his life, which was the intent of his 157-year-to-life sentence. "If he lives another 20 years, without adjusting for inflation, the citizens of California can expect to pay $10 million to continue to incarcerate him," his attorney noted in one court filing. Whether the state continues to incur those costs will be decided in a hearing that starts Tuesday, when Martinez becomes the first state prison inmate to face a medical parole hearing. Under a state law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last September, inmates who are found to be in a vegetative or highly incapacitated state and deemed to pose no threat to society can win release from prison if the Board of Parole Hearings approves. The legislation was passed as a cost-saving measure, with supporters arguing it could cut California's prison costs by tens of millions of dollars annually. About 40 inmates have been identified so far as eligible for the hearings, including five sent to prison under the state's Three Strikes law. Some who are in custody in acute care facilities outside of prisons cost taxpayers up to $2 million annually for medical care and supervision. Inmates on death row and those serving a sentence of life without parole are not eligible for early release under the law, and inmates who win medical parole and later see their health conditions improve could be returned to custody. "Right now, we have approximately 40 that we have identified through our doctors as patients that meet the criteria up and down the state of California," said Joyce Hayhoe, legislative director for prison receiver J. Clark Kelso, who has been appointed by federal courts to oversee the state's prison health care. The law was sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, and is one of a series of recent efforts to trim prison costs by paroling inmates deemed to pose no threat if they are released. Whether Martinez fits the bill is still up for debate. His criminal record dates to 1987 and includes arrests for assault with a deadly weapon, battery, resisting a public officer and receiving stolen property. He entered prison on Dec. 28, 1998, after being convicted in a brutal kidnap and rape case. In March of that year, Martinez rammed his car into two women near San Diego as they were leaving a nightclub and pinned one beneath his car. "After grabbing the incapacitated woman by the throat and punching her in the face, breaking her nose, Martinez placed her in the back seat of the car and drove to a secluded location, where he forcibly committed various sexual acts upon the battered and bloodied woman," the 3rd District Court of Appeals wrote in an opinion last month on Martinez' efforts to win release. A police officer on patrol found them in the car, and Martinez was later convicted and sentenced to 165 years in prison. His sentence was ultimately reduced to 157 years. He entered prison at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego as a healthy man and, within months, was transferred to Centinela State Prison. On Feb. 3, 2001, two inmates attacked Martinez in a prison yard and stabbed him in the neck, lacerating his spinal cord and rendering him a quadriplegic. "Martinez requires extraordinary nursing care because of his total inability to care for himself in any way," a June 2002 prison memo stated. "He requires feeding, frequent position changes [every two hours], wheelchairing, oral hygiene, cleaning of his body and bed clothing on a frequent basis due to his incontinence." Read More. |
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