Richard Paey's Torturers Must be Held Accountable
As we celebrate Richard Paey's freedom today, it is important to remember that his tragic fate was no accident. Many people worked very hard at tax-payers' expense to put this innocent and miserable man behind bars. They deserve recognition today as well.
Certainly, these events vividly depict the insanity of a war on drugs that targets seriously ill people for trying to treat their own pain:
*Prosecutors blamed Paey's harsh sentence on Paey himself, claiming that he should have accepted a plea bargain. As Balko explains, they essentially retaliated against him for asserting his factual innocence and insisting on his right to a jury trial.
*Prison officials transferred Paey further away from his family after he gave a New York Times interview that was critical of the State of Florida.
*Prison medical staff threatened to withhold Paey's medication, also in apparent retaliation for his interview with the New York Times. Since he could die without it, this was the functional equivalent of a death threat and caused him great distress.
Now that Florida's Governor and Cabinet have concluded that Paey did nothing wrong, it is time to examine the way he was treated throughout this great travesty. If there are sociopaths working in Florida's criminal justice system, that's something Governor Crist would want to know about. If we can afford to imprison people for decades in order to protect ourselves from drugs, surely we can also afford to evaluate public servants who wield extraordinary power in order to ensure that they aren't deeply disturbed.
Mentally healthy people do not persecute the seriously ill, even if the drug war says it's ok.
Certainly, these events vividly depict the insanity of a war on drugs that targets seriously ill people for trying to treat their own pain:
State prosecutors concede there's no evidence Paey ever sold or gave his medication away. Nevertheless, under draconian drug-war statutes, these prosecutors could pursue distribution charges against him based solely on the amount of medication he possessed (the unauthorized possession of as few as 60 tablets of some pain medications can qualify a person as a "drug trafficker"). [National Review]Yet, as Radley Balko revealed at National Review, the persecution of Richard Paey involved so much more than the reckless enforcement of short-sighted laws. This was a prolonged and deliberate campaign on the part of malicious prosecutors and vengeful prison officials.
*Prosecutors blamed Paey's harsh sentence on Paey himself, claiming that he should have accepted a plea bargain. As Balko explains, they essentially retaliated against him for asserting his factual innocence and insisting on his right to a jury trial.
*Prison officials transferred Paey further away from his family after he gave a New York Times interview that was critical of the State of Florida.
*Prison medical staff threatened to withhold Paey's medication, also in apparent retaliation for his interview with the New York Times. Since he could die without it, this was the functional equivalent of a death threat and caused him great distress.
Now that Florida's Governor and Cabinet have concluded that Paey did nothing wrong, it is time to examine the way he was treated throughout this great travesty. If there are sociopaths working in Florida's criminal justice system, that's something Governor Crist would want to know about. If we can afford to imprison people for decades in order to protect ourselves from drugs, surely we can also afford to evaluate public servants who wield extraordinary power in order to ensure that they aren't deeply disturbed.
Mentally healthy people do not persecute the seriously ill, even if the drug war says it's ok.
Location:
United States
See map: Google Maps
Looking for the easiest way to join the anti-drug war movement? You've found it!
persecution re;drug dependance
As a long time heroin addict,it must be karma that I now find myself the victim of a spine destroying virus.As a result of my ilness,I now find myself in chronic pain,with no recourse to medical assistance.The B>C> colledge of physicians and surgeons has deemed that all drug abusers must be treated via the methadone clinics,which they run as their own little feifdome,and who's rules won't let anyone treat me with anything but methadone,which I've been on for the last 35 years,off and on,and which gives me zero reliefe at safe dosages.My last attempt at treatment,resulted in my associating with a doctor who felt that 11 days of withdrawl,followed by months of game playing and deciet till I felt anything was preferrable to his assistance.I await the next round,with baited breath.
Paey's Pardon.
Sanity at Last.
It says the Drug Cop's followed Paey's family for 3-months--for nothing!!!!
Who's paid for all this police OT?
We did!
The WOD has become America's biggest tax funded hokey-doke. Paey's case is so utterly outrageous it begs more looking into.
Who will investigate these investigators?
J.D.
Post new comment