Man jailed indefinitely -- not because he committed a crime, but because he has TB.

This is one of those bad news/worse news stories: a guy gets one hell of a disease, then he's put under lock and key with no inkling when or even if he'll get out of jail. All this in the name of public safety. And wait till you see how he's forced to live.

http://newsgrinder.blogspot.com/2007/04/man-jailed-indefinitely-not-because-he.html

The way this guy's situation plays out, it's like being a detainee.

His treatment is totally inhumane.

Proving once again that compassionate conservatism is a total oxymoron.

Yikes.

Hope he gets some help soon.

His conditions should be improved, but his personal freedom does not trump the overwhelming likelihood that a highly communicable, deadly disease he is carrying will be transmitted to more people - who will die and/or give it to others.

He should be quarantined until he is no longer communicable. Life isn't always fair. This is one of those times where the collective good must win out.

Flame away.

and how some people refuse to take their meds or go to their doctor appointments. It's sad, but if they are out infecting innocent people on the streets or in their apartment buildings, they need close supervision.

but this guy is barely allowed to even speak on the phone or have a TV or a computer.

Just four walls for being sick.

They could at least allow him to communicate electronically without creating any threat whatsoever to public safety don't ya think?

He loses an ASSLOAD of my sympathy right there.

That being said, however, there's no good reason
that the conditions of his confinement should
be so inhumane. The guy didn't ASK to become a
terrible threat to public health; his sadly necessary
isolation should be as comfortable and well-appointed
as possible.

with treatment, you can be held in a state hospital until you decide to follow doctor's order or your disease improves, whichever comes first. Some people just won't cooperate, and they have to be quarantined for the public's good, as well as their own. I don't think it happens that often, but it can.

Bad treatment on top of that is just not called for, though.

That lowers his inhumane treatment to rock bottom. What's the harm? He could at least entertain himself.

I think the key here is.....He spent 15 years in Russia.

He must have gone there when he was 11, so must have been TAKEN there by parents/guardian. I wonder who those individuals were.

This story has a stinky underbelly, I suspect.

:think:

phone and such to be taken away?

:freak:

It can be adapted into a weapon. Even those with artificial legs must give them up. No crutches, just a solid wheelchair without attachments.

The TV's are behind an unbreakable clear shield. The Officers change the channels.

You're forcing him to sacrifice his freedom for the greater good - a benefit he will not receive. Thus, in the interest of justice, he deserves every possible effort to make his sacrifice less... well, sacrificial. We, as the beneficiaries of his internment, have a moral obligation to make his internment as pleasant as possible.

He won't use a mask to protect the public. I do not like the idea of people being locked up when they have not committed a crime, in the name of public safety. God knows what kind of human rights abuses that leads to. Well it leads to Guantanamo, I guess.

just curious.

I used to work for a news website but quit to take care of my mom, then found that the addiction just had to be fed.

I asked admin if I could change my user name to make it clear it's my site when I post links but was told I couldn't; was told I'd have to close down the one I've had for so long and open a new one. Decided not to do that.

Why can't he have a computer or TV?

:shrug:

I hope there is a better housing option for him in the near future, but he just can't be exposed to the public ever again while he remains contagious. He needs housed in a negative air pressure vent room; which he is in at the moment. This style of ventilation does not permit airborne contamination.

We could keep him in a respirator/ ventilation mask for the rest of his life. :scared: :shrug:

It's HOW he's kept that bothers me. I can't imagine a life of such utter isolation, but neither can I imagine someone refusing to wear a mask. It just seems to me that a jail cell is not the best solution.

and at present, it appears there was a need for a Judge to intervene for public safety so he is in a jail. Since he was non-compliant with wearing the mask and no doubt has actually infect many...

The Judge and Social Services are no doubt working on a solution so that he can be released. I bet he was non-compliant with the INH ( antibiotic for TB), repeatedly which now, his strain has become a super-bug.

They do the same thing with HIV prostitutes, they are a public safety risk...They just don't require quarantined.

I remember seeing coverage years ago about how Castro handled HIV/AIDS: built a place where they -- and their loved ones, if they wished -- could live. Not a jail; a pretty and comfortable home. I wonder how that worked out.

He is an inmate because he was ordered by a Court of Law into custody due to non-compliance with health and safety protocols. The goal is public safety and not comfort. He was defiant to the lesser
option....as a result, he is extremely dangerous to the entire county. Think about it, to be housed in a hospital private setting is extremely expensive... and the jail cell is serving the purpose. He had his chance....He chose poorly.

The quarantine inmates I have had to visit in jail are in a double-door system using the negative air pressure vent room/cell...which has a TV, phone and shower and alarm steno; (along with a standard bunk, sink and toilet).

She had to be kept away from people, because she refused to comply with safety measures, and insisted on working with food. Reportedly, she was a very filthy person, too.

the man refuses to comply with basic precautions, how many people would you like him to infect before he's stopped?

if we could go back in time and stop patient zero (assuming there was one) from spreading hiv think of the millions of lives saved


people who have untreatable contagious disease must be quarantined, if there is no cure and they won't take precautions to keep from spreading the disease, i don't see a way around it, this one guy doesn't outweigh the other 6 billion people in the world, i actually go to arizona on occasion, do i want to have this guy walking around in public? honestly no

i suspect there are reasons behind no teevee, no mirror, etc. probably a mental health/suicide issue, don't you think?

there is no reason why he should be dehumanized by not having access to a phone, a computer, a TV and a radio. According to the article cited, he hasn't even had access to a mirror.

TB is making a comeback, and eventually can become a real problem once again. There was an old TB hospital in Queens, NY and at other times, people were placed on old ships in the harbor when necessary to keep the spread of the disease at a minimum. They were all afforded fresh air, sunlight and none were mistreated. Access to newspapers, radios, (no TV's back then), magazines, etc were in plentiful supply.

Many people around the nation are infected w/TB, this is why you get a TB test; in most positive cases,
the TB has encapsulated, and while you may be a carrier, the infection is essentially under control by the immune system of the body. In some cases meds are prescribed, my ex took Rifampin+Isoniazid+Pyrazinamide.

I can see no reason why this individual should be dehumanized to the point where he cannot interact through electronic means until his release/control of the disease. He appear to be an obstinate individual and protection of the population is imperative, but once physically isolated, he should no be intellectually isolated as well.

as well as the fact that he is under arrest. He is currently housed in jail under the criminal code. Jails have a jail-style, no frills isolation cell for infectious disease. He is in one. Some cells have a TV, a phone etc as I described in an earlier post; some don't....This one does not...so be it.

Essentially, he chose poorly; to not comply. He didn't care who else got the deadly disease....innocent children, elderly, you-me....He did not care.... He is a public health enemy at this point. He will just have to wait to get an acceptable housing plan established. I'm sure he was educated by the Health Department on the potential of being jailed if non-compliant.

My word of wisdom.....Keep your ass out of jail.

Read THE INNOCENT MAN by John Grisham.

jail. All jail inmates are innocent until proven guilty. The accommodations are adequate.

I don't think this particular situation warrants dehumanization by a lack of contact via phone, radio, TV or the net. Quarantine is warranted, on that I can agree w/you, and if this guy wasn't so obstinate, he would not be in jail. Even though he appears to be a jerk, he could be afforded some form of humanitarian treatment.

a fund raiser for the County Jail so that they can remodel the isolation cell. They can accommodate security as well as upgrade the accommodations. I have seen ones with TV, shower, and basic toilet/sink.

I believe you make excellent points for humanitarian needs. You could really put on a kicking fundraiser. I bet you could get funds for 2 cells if you promoted it well. I sense the need will be indicated in the near future. There seems to be a lot of support for refining the medical housing needs of that jail.

she ended up giving it to my Father and my eldest brother, as well as giving my other brother and me a positive test for exposure. As a result, I spent my childhood being shuttled back and forth from one county health facility to another for repeated "tests". When I moved to Michigan from Arizona, the health officials came to my door, and informed me that, in order to be "allowed" to remain in Michigan, I had to take pills every day for an entire year, and if I missed even one, I had to start over. Every week, for an entire year, a helath official arrived to count the pills.

And this wasn't even the drug resistant kind. Yeah, Arizona has draconian laws regarding TB - it was home to many santioriums during the 50's, when people came to Arizona if they had TB. Some got better, some died. It was enough to totally fuck up your childhood - even if you were "lucky" enough not to catch it.

Let's not act as if this man has a bad cold - TB can and does kill you. Some of the things they're denying him, though, seems ridiculous.

immigration problem. Mexico and South America have an extremely high rate of TB. When the immigrants are here illegally, they avoid testing and treatment for fear of being deported. Thus, Arizona has had to adopt a firm line of public health screening for TB.

when Arizona had many TB sanitoriums - illegals had nothing to do with these laws.

they are still on the books and are enforced. Yes, the illegals are major contributors to the TB epidemic.Here is a quick seach article:

http://www.businessword.com/index.php/weblog/comments/1598/

"Illegal aliens bringing drug-resistant TB and other diseases with them"

See Friday’s (June 24, 2005) Investor’s Business Daily editorial, “Give us your sick.” Since links aren’t available, here are the lede graphs:

In an article in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., Dr. Reuben Granich, a lead investigator for the Centers for Disase Control and Preention, reports the emergence in the U.S. of a particularly virulent, multi-drug -resistant form of tuberculosis known as MDR-TB.

snip>

“Reluctant to label the infected as ‘illegal’ or even ‘undocumented’ aliens, the report notes that of the 407 known cases of MDR-TB, 84% were ‘foreign-born’ patients, mainly from Mexico and the Philippines who’d been in the U.S. less than five years. The percentage of TB cases among the ‘foreign-born’ jumped from 29% in 1993 to 53% as of last year.

Impact graphs:

What is unseen is their free medical care that has degraded and closed some of America’s finest emergency medical facilities, and caused hospital bankruptcies: 84 California hospitals are closing their doors. ‘Anchor babies’ born to illegal aliens instantly qualify as citizens for welfare benefits and have caused enormous rises in Medicaid costs and stipends under Supplemental Security Income and Disability Income....

By default, we grant health passes to illegal aliens. Yet many illegal aliens harbor fatal diseases that American medicine fought and vanquished long ago, such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, plague, polio, dengue, and Chagas disease.

What is seen is the political statistic that 43 million lives are at risk in America because of lack of medical insurance. What is unseen is that medical insurance does not equal medical care. Uninsured people receive medical care in hospital emergency departments (EDs) under the coercive Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1985 (EMTALA), which obligates hospitals to treat the uninsured but does not pay for that care. Also unseen is the percentage of the uninsured who are illegal aliens. No one knows how many illegal aliens reside in America. If there are 10 million, they constitute nearly 25 percent of the uninsured. The percentage could be even higher.

If TB picks up again and they run out of these special cells watch for a return to lepers colonies, TB colonies on desolate no man's land islands somewhere.