Prison Horrors
March 09, 2005
Someone once said that God is just, and that should scare us. Here's how we treat our prisoners:
Ocasio--then an inmate at the Bayamón prison in Puerto Rico--was injured by a blow to the head in a prison riot. He received medical attention at a regional hospital but was left with head pain, convulsions, and one side of his body paralyzed. CT scans showed no brain damage and Ocasio was returned to his cell at Bayamón on November 15. It is his treatment, or the lack of it, during the next six weeks that is the present subject of this litigation.
Drawing permissible inferences in favor of Alsina, it appears likely that during this six-week period Ocasio was in considerable pain, was seriously disabled, cried and screamed in pain and, half paralyzed, could not get about. There is some evidence that Emilio Castillo, then a prison guard lieutenant in contact with Ocasio, was aware of his plight but did nothing to secure medical care for him.
Screw prisoners, right? They're in prison, after all, and thus deserve whatever they get. Well, if there is a God (and I believe there is), we'll also get what we deserve for our treatment of prisoners.