What's Mom Worth?
August 29, 2011 3:39 AM Subscribe
What's Mom Worth? When a Woman Became Deathly Ill in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Jail, Guards and Nurses Ignored Her Agony (single-page print version). Previously, previously, via.
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is a terrible thing that happened, but it's not a great post for MetaFilter. -- jessamyn
There is no death so horrible or gruesome that I would feel bad if it happened to Joe Arpaio.
posted by dunkadunc at 3:45 AM on August 29, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by dunkadunc at 3:45 AM on August 29, 2011 [5 favorites]
Why does he still have a job?
Because he keeps getting elected.
posted by 6550 at 4:04 AM on August 29, 2011
Because he keeps getting elected.
posted by 6550 at 4:04 AM on August 29, 2011
Why does he still have a job?
Because people are voting to maximise cruelty, not financial effictiveness.
posted by jaduncan at 4:08 AM on August 29, 2011 [16 favorites]
Because people are voting to maximise cruelty, not financial effictiveness.
posted by jaduncan at 4:08 AM on August 29, 2011 [16 favorites]
I just can't do it anymore guys. Probably helping people and reading about stuff like this for two thirds of my life has fucked me up, but i can't read this, I can't go on any longet reading about other peoples suffering, my own is too great, I can't deal with this anymore.
posted by By The Grace of God at 4:14 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by By The Grace of God at 4:14 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Prison personnel deal with so much malingering by inmates that when one actually is ill, their treatment is substandard.
posted by Renoroc at 4:24 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by Renoroc at 4:24 AM on August 29, 2011
Prison personnel deal with so much malingering by inmates that when one actually is ill, their treatment is substandard.
"Stop beating me, I'm going to die"
"Stop malingering"
"...."
posted by allen.spaulding at 4:36 AM on August 29, 2011 [7 favorites]
"Stop beating me, I'm going to die"
"Stop malingering"
"...."
posted by allen.spaulding at 4:36 AM on August 29, 2011 [7 favorites]
Prison personnel deal with so much malingering by inmates that when one actually is ill, their treatment is substandard.
Chapter and verse? I think what you're saying is completely false, and I don't think you can back it up.
posted by facetious at 4:58 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Chapter and verse? I think what you're saying is completely false, and I don't think you can back it up.
posted by facetious at 4:58 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
I hear rumors of major voter intimidation and ballot box stuffing Phoenix.
posted by humanfont at 5:05 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by humanfont at 5:05 AM on August 29, 2011
Who else is just asking for it?
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:06 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:06 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sometimes I say that I don't like people. I like the people that I know, but people in general, as a species, not so much. One of the reasons is that it seems almost a species-wide genetic trait that so many of us take any possible flimsy excuse to not treat other people like people.
posted by Ducks or monkeys at 5:07 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by Ducks or monkeys at 5:07 AM on August 29, 2011
Am I the only one who felt a sort of visceral wrongness and irritation that the author fictionalized the parts from the dead woman's perspective AND didn't reveal it until the end? I appreciate the good intentions but it really rubbed me the wrong way on more than one level. I was already frazzled by how disjointed and subsequently confusing it was at parts, not to mention how awful the events were to begin with, so maybe all that collided into general irritation and uncomfortableness at the end there. It just felt distasteful, especially given how the style and voice in those sections was pretty specific; I wonder if the people who knew her think it sounds like her?
But even then, I don't know if other people ever have a great idea of what other people's thoughts sound like. I think it's something about presenting the thoughts as more than speculation (before the reveal, anyway) that bothers me; it seems disrespectful to misrepresent as true, even temporarily, what someone was thinking in their most vulnerable moment. Especially when a lot of it didn't come across terribly favorably; there's some coy part where she (the fictional she) says she'll never tell whether she purposely wanted to go to the infirmary instead of stay in the cell, and that was kind of weird and confusing at the time. If it was revealed at the beginning it was fictional I don't think that would have bothered me as much. If it were me, I would appreciate someone writing an article to give me a "voice" but I wouldn't like knowing that they tried to precisely recreate what they imagined I was thinking without being clear first that it was speculation.
I don't mean to be too down on the author, it just seems like poor judgment. While thinking about this I wondered if he thought it must be obvious it was fictionalized, and as I read it I did wonder when the woman was possibly able to express these things, but she woke up from the coma at one point so it wasn't clear what ups and downs might lay ahead of her before dying. Plus the way it's revealed at the end makes it seem like some grand surprise, so I'm not sure what to think.
Of course, I suppose it says something that this feels like the approachable quandary, as compared to how someone like Arpaio remains in power... That's so baffling and depressing it's like my brain doesn't even try.
posted by Nattie at 5:11 AM on August 29, 2011 [10 favorites]
But even then, I don't know if other people ever have a great idea of what other people's thoughts sound like. I think it's something about presenting the thoughts as more than speculation (before the reveal, anyway) that bothers me; it seems disrespectful to misrepresent as true, even temporarily, what someone was thinking in their most vulnerable moment. Especially when a lot of it didn't come across terribly favorably; there's some coy part where she (the fictional she) says she'll never tell whether she purposely wanted to go to the infirmary instead of stay in the cell, and that was kind of weird and confusing at the time. If it was revealed at the beginning it was fictional I don't think that would have bothered me as much. If it were me, I would appreciate someone writing an article to give me a "voice" but I wouldn't like knowing that they tried to precisely recreate what they imagined I was thinking without being clear first that it was speculation.
I don't mean to be too down on the author, it just seems like poor judgment. While thinking about this I wondered if he thought it must be obvious it was fictionalized, and as I read it I did wonder when the woman was possibly able to express these things, but she woke up from the coma at one point so it wasn't clear what ups and downs might lay ahead of her before dying. Plus the way it's revealed at the end makes it seem like some grand surprise, so I'm not sure what to think.
Of course, I suppose it says something that this feels like the approachable quandary, as compared to how someone like Arpaio remains in power... That's so baffling and depressing it's like my brain doesn't even try.
posted by Nattie at 5:11 AM on August 29, 2011 [10 favorites]
The cops in Maricopa county are famous for being brutal and anyone living within their reach should protect themselves.
For those that are interested, I did a bit of digging and found some details about the surveillance capabilities of Maricopa county. It seems likely that they are able to intercept GSM/CDMA/iDEN and likely other phone systems without even involving a telecom company. They're probably using the Harris "KING FISH DUAL-MODE SYSTEM" for cell phone interception. You can find more information this by looking for the Sheriff’s
Office Contract C-50-09-073-3-00. It looks like they paid around $89,300 (Net 30) to Harris for the equipment listed in that contract.
I found the full contract here but it has been recently removed:
http://www.maricopa.gov/materials/Awarded_Contracts/PDF/09041-c.pdf
Another document that confirms the price I mentioned is still up:
http://www.maricopa.gov/clk_board/Minutes/2009/052009fb.pdf
posted by ioerror at 5:24 AM on August 29, 2011 [4 favorites]
For those that are interested, I did a bit of digging and found some details about the surveillance capabilities of Maricopa county. It seems likely that they are able to intercept GSM/CDMA/iDEN and likely other phone systems without even involving a telecom company. They're probably using the Harris "KING FISH DUAL-MODE SYSTEM" for cell phone interception. You can find more information this by looking for the Sheriff’s
Office Contract C-50-09-073-3-00. It looks like they paid around $89,300 (Net 30) to Harris for the equipment listed in that contract.
I found the full contract here but it has been recently removed:
http://www.maricopa.gov/materials/Awarded_Contracts/PDF/09041-c.pdf
Another document that confirms the price I mentioned is still up:
http://www.maricopa.gov/clk_board/Minutes/2009/052009fb.pdf
posted by ioerror at 5:24 AM on August 29, 2011 [4 favorites]
Much as I'd enjoy fulfilling the contract to decorate Arpaio's cell in Hell, I'm gonna hold off and bid on the construction project for the wing that will need to be built to accommodate every dumb fuck who ever voted for him.
posted by localroger at 5:30 AM on August 29, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by localroger at 5:30 AM on August 29, 2011 [4 favorites]
First, I agree the writing sucks. Badly.
Second, as an insulin-dependent diabetic, I am shocked, aghast, and fucking mad. That is a horrible, painful way to die. I have experienced DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) that almost killed me and, trust me, it's not something you want to go through. This is murder, plain and simple. Heads should roll.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 5:30 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
Second, as an insulin-dependent diabetic, I am shocked, aghast, and fucking mad. That is a horrible, painful way to die. I have experienced DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) that almost killed me and, trust me, it's not something you want to go through. This is murder, plain and simple. Heads should roll.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 5:30 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
What happens between a mother and daughter comes from God.
I only got as far as that before I threw up in my mouth.
posted by unSane at 5:31 AM on August 29, 2011 [6 favorites]
I only got as far as that before I threw up in my mouth.
posted by unSane at 5:31 AM on August 29, 2011 [6 favorites]
That article was poorly written. Yes, that asshole Joe Arpaio is a piece of crap, but the article is poorly written, at best.
posted by kellyblah at 5:33 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by kellyblah at 5:33 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
The title, "What's a mom worth?" clued me in that I was going to be in eye rolling territory, but jesus h. This is a newspaper? Run by adults? Written for adults?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:48 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:48 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
obviously disgusted outsiders cannot do anything about the cretins in Phoenix who keep electing this monster but why can't we put influence on entertainers to treat Phoenix, hell all of Arizona, as a new kind of Sun City? The MLB All-Star game was played in this mecca to racism this year, I have to figure at least a couple of the All-Stars would have been receptive to a boycott of their racist policies. It's time for liberal Americans to fight back with the only advantage they have against fascism - their overwhelming dominance over the entertainment industry. Time for a new Sun City.
posted by any major dude at 5:54 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by any major dude at 5:54 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sorry. What's a Mom Worth. Regardless, I couldn't finish the thing not only because the writer was making up dialog to put in the dead woman's mind, but because each paragraph was one sentence long.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:56 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:56 AM on August 29, 2011 [2 favorites]
I agree badly written, for sure this woman was no angel. That said, it was cruel to let her die like that.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 7:02 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 7:02 AM on August 29, 2011
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