Jonathan Magbie died in jail because his jailers couldn't provide proper health care.
He was locked up in the first place because he was a paraplegic who smoked cannabis to alleviate his suffering -- and when he came before the judge, arrested for his illegal drug use, he spoke his truth to power: he would continue smoking his medicine despite the consequences. For his integrity, he was given a ten-day jail sentence, which in the DC jail system meant a death sentence for someone in his condition. The normal sentence for a first-time offense like this was probation. The medical officials at the jail called the judge to inform her that they weren't equipped to handle his case; she refused to change his sentence.
Magbie needed a special ventilator to breathe at night; when he eventually fell ill, without it, the paramedics would be forced to wait 30 minutes to fill out the proper paperwork to get him to a hospital (after lord knows how many hours before they were called in the first place). He died in the hospital later that night.
I'm so tired of waxing righteous on stories like this. Drug prohibition is filled with so much ugliness, so many wrongs, such horrific abuse of state power. Last week the lawsuit that Magbie's mother filed was settled in DC -- and some provisions made to ensure that this kind of death is avoided as much as possible in the future.
There are a few ways to look at this, as an outsider, as a tired outsider. When I'm in my hopeless shoes, I look at this case, this one jail, this one ruling, and feel like it's a small drop in an ocean of state murder.
But when I'm in my grounded shoes, I feel like it's time to stop my whining and let this be a sobering moment for all of us in the social justice movement. We need to get organized, build power, and take down this stinking drug war that is killing members of our community.
There's a saying that I heard from the mothers of the disappeared when I was visiting Chile recently. It's too late to bring back some of our loved ones. But it's time to demand:
"Vivos se los llevaron y vivos los queremos!"
"Alive they took them and alive we want them back!"
Posted by Vera Leone