Don't let Marcia Powell die in vain
Perhaps the worst aspect of the controversy surrounding the death of Marcia Powell, the state prison inmate who died after being left out in 107-degree heat, is that it impedes an important Arizona Department of Corrections investigation into exactly how long people can survive in the outdoor holding cells.
According to the Republic this a.m., the state will now limit use of the cells to two hours. But, after months of Sturm und Drang about Powell’s death from rabble-rousers at the New Times and elsewhere—and with only a few more weeks of 100-degree-plus heat in front of us—one can worry whether department officials will be cowed into abandoning this crucial work until next spring.
Powell was left in a chain-link outdoor cell without a roof and apparently without water. She was mortally injured in less than four hours! The state now knows the life-expectancy of a mentally disturbed middle-aged prostitute in the cells.
We also have some immensely valuable data about the process. Powell’s skin blistered, and her internal body temperature reached 108 degrees. The value of this research is uniformly left unmentioned in the coverage of Powell’s death.
Now, on paper at least, the department can still house inmates in the cells for two hours, and with 103 on the forecast for this weekend, it might get some valuable data. If the prisoners survive, with luck the department may be able to squeeze in some testing in the three-hour range, assuming temperatures hold a bit more before the definitive arrival of fall.
Chances of further tests in the 3.5-hour area seem remote at this point. Hopes that the department could do comprehensive testing of the survivability rates of non-mentally disturbed people, the obese, diabetics, the elderly, and juvenile offenders now seem a pipe dream.
But even one or two more rounds of testing seem a best-case scenario. Right now, prisoner’s rights advocates are clamoring; officials are playing the blame game and disciplining corrections officers; and some radicals are even calling for criminal punishment.
In this climate, there’s a good chance that dedicated workers, fearing a witch hunt, will abandon their research.
PHXated hopes the department will focus on its mission, and continue to make use of the holding cells. Otherwise, Marcia Powell can truly be said to have died in vain.
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More on the death of Marcia Powell
The Feathered Bastard goes into more detail about the disciplinary action against some 16 corrections officials here, contending among other things that the head of the department of corrections, Charles Ryan, should be among those resigning.
One unaddressed issue: Ryan ordered life-maintaining equipment removed from Powell after she had been brought into the hospital, even though she had a guardian who was legally empowered to make that decision.
More background on Powell’s almost unrelentingly miserable life here.
PHXated watched the CBS 5 news report on Powell this morning and was amazed at the superficiality of it. Among other things, the report said Powell was left out in 100-degree heat, where all the other reports say it was 107 that day; and it said the state would no longer be using the outdoor holding cells, but this is contradicted by the Republic’s story this a.m. says that it’s merely limited their use to two hours.
The report also didn’t even mention the possibility of criminal charges being leveled against those responsible, which of course is the big question.
On the other hand, the report did show a shot of what seemed to be a warren of the cells she was supposedly left in; that and the anchor’s assertion that she was left “without shade” answered a question I had in my mind after reading the other reports, which didn’t make it clear that Powell was literally left to roast alive in the sun without cover. (She ended up with second-degree burns on her body; that means her skin was literally blistering.)
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Biden holds fundraiser for Gabrielle Giffords
At the event, in Delaware, Biden raises worries of a GOP re-takeover of the House of Representatives. This story, in Roll Call, details the supposed vulnerability of three Arizona Dems:
Democratic members of Congress hold 49 districts that McCain won in 2008, including three in Arizona. Giffords’ district and that of Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-Ariz.) gave McCain 52 percent of the vote; Rep. Anne Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) won despite McCain taking 54 percent of the vote in her largely rural First District.
[…]
The fundraiser, held in Greenville, Del., will benefit Giffords’ bid for a third term. Giffords beat state Sen. Tim Bee® by a 55 percent to 43 percent margin in 2008, as both parties spent heavily on behalf of both candidates.
It doesn’t pay to argue with Roll Call on political matters, But I don’t think the argument applies quite so strongly to the Arizona delegation. McCain’s results here were outsized because of his favorite son status. And in the event, of the three only Mitchell got less than 55 percent of the vote.
Right now it’s entirely to the Democratic’s advantage to have hyperbolic worries like this come into play. It’s best to be in trouble—or look like you’re in trouble—14 months out. The party has an entire year for the impact of the presumed health care reform sink in and the economy to be on firmer ground.
The ruling party is always supposed to suffer in the first mid-year elections; the Democrats could take hits in the off-year New Jersey and Virginia governor races in November; and of course new troubles, like Afghanistan, may come to the fore and strain the administration’s ability to lay the blame on the mess on the previous administration. (Where it of course belongs.)
But given the ebb and flow of political difficulties I think the Democrats can only be happy what seems like a major ebb is happening this far out from the next round of elections.
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