Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Interesting, but Incomplete

The article, Prison Workers Are Disciplined in Inmate Death written by the Associated Press, was a great story overall. The piece explained the aftermath following the death of an inmate at a female penitentiary. Marcia Powell was convicted of prostitution in the state of Arizona and was sentenced to a little over 2 years in Perryville Prison. Sadly, she was left in an uncovered, outdoor cell for 4 hours. Four hours! Outside! In Arizona! Needless to say, she died of heat related causes and the prison guards responsible for her death were either fired or severely reprimanded. The reporter spoke to all the right people- from the Department of Corrections Director to the County Attorney, but he/she left a lot of unanswered questions. Why was the prison psychologist punished? Did the psychologist order for Powell to be placed in the outdoor cell? Do the guards still practice the "wait-it-out" policy for unruly inmates- the same policy that directly led to Powell's death? And with prison guards in such high demand, who is going to staff the Perryville penitentiary? To me, the story seems incomplete, but I suppose that when covering the news, you can't get every single detail in one column. The reporter covered the important facts, but there is more left to be uncovered.

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