Monday, August 25, 2008

Too fat to jail?

Not long ago we saw a fellow escape from jail by losing so much weight he could slip through an air conditioning duct. Now we get a tale from the opposite end of the spectrum: A half-ton woman accused of killing a toddler in Hidalgo County who's so fat she can no longer fit through the door. What's more, "The local sheriff says the woman needs extensive medical care, so jail isn't an option anyway."

It seems to me the only difference between being trapped in her bedroom and trapped in a jail cell would be Hidalgo County taxpayers picking up her health care tab. What do you say we agree to just leave her there and call it "house arrest"?

14 comments:

  1. Sounds good to me, Grits! Why the heck not. It IS really house-arrest.

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  2. I had a client recently who decided he was going to let himself get this horrible illness (or stop taking care of this illness he already had) because there was NO WAY they would take him to jail sick.

    I tried to tell him, you know, a lot of my public defender clients were REALLY sick, and that never seemed to stop the Dept. of Corrections.

    But, he thought there was no way they would ever take him in with an illness. He also thought there was no way a judge would put him in and make him miss his appointments with all these fancy specialists.

    He was wrong.

    Now, not fitting in the door, that might have been a better way to go...

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  3. That's interesting to know. I think she should be treated the other way rather than sending to jail where she could find more trouble. But what a different story it will be if they don't send a murderer to the jail.
    let's see how they do it.

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  4. If we can persuade Hidalgo County's meals-on-wheels folks to deliver jail food to her, she's be slimming down in no time.

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  5. Maybe putting her in jail would save her life

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  6. She murdered a child. She should be put in jail and given the same basic care as others in jail. House arrest makes no difference to a woman who weighs 1000 lbs and can't leave the house anyway. SHE KILLED A CHILD!! She needs to be in jail or put out of her misery.

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  7. She murdered a child.

    What is it with people who think an indictment is the same as proven guilt?

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  8. Take it easy Chief Justice Lucille.

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  9. People immediately assume that her being in jail will be some great drain on tax payers due to her medical care. What makes you think she isn't already draining tax money? at 1000 lbs, I doubt seriously she works for a living... but I bet she doesn't miss one bag of cheetos that comes in the house..

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  10. I think she should probably sue the fast food restaurants for making her fat. Then the state could confiscate her winnings and help pay for new jails.

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  11. Lucille, you have done my work for me. Thank you.

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  12. Whale oil lantern?

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  13. If she is found to be guilty, she absolutely should be put in jail. Aside from the very accurate statement that it probably WOULD save her life, crimes against small children, or any child really are just inexcusable.

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  14. If she is found to be guilty, she absolutely should be put in jail.

    No argument there.

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