This is unlike any diary I've ever written here, so I hope you'll bear with me. If you're a California attorney or know one, I hope that you'll activate your network. We're coming up to court closures for the holidays and the available time to do anything may be short.
I've received an e-mail from a distant correspondent whom I know a bit from online. That's all I'll say about her. Her daughter-in-law's brother is in prison (Victorville, here in California), got into a fight, and had his jaw broken and the orbit of his eye crushed, with loss of vision likely to follow in the absence of surgery. Rather than send him into surgery, though, the prison has tossed him into solitary. If he waits until January to get out, his vision will be gone.
Trying to do something this is far away from my area of competency as a lawyer. I could ask someone to talk me through the process, but it would be sort of like a psychiatrist having someone talk her through an amputation. So I'm looking for (1) someone who knows what they're doing and can take a pro bono case to get a prison to send this man in for surgery or (2) knows what they're doing, can't or won't take the case, but can talk me through the process.
My correspondent's message, which I've redacted, follows:
My daughter-in-law has a brother who is in Victorville. He's a rough character if ever there was one. Some days ago he was standing in the line for his medication when a fight broke out and he's been injured badly, the orbit of his eye is crushed and his jaw is broken. Apparently the prison took him to the emergency room to be evaluated where they were told he needs surgery or he'll likely be blind and the jaw needs to be set. But instead of doing what needs to be done they brought him back to Victorville and threw him in the hole. He managed to sneak out a letter (he's been in and out of prison his entire life and knows the ropes on these things). He's apparently scared, in terrible pain and generally unhinged by the trauma.
My daughter-in-law tried to contact the prison to see if she could intercede but they just gave her the run around. Thing is, she holds a power of attorney for her brother that was signed in 2005, so she basically has legal rights to his affairs. She doesn't know what else to do. That's where I came in.
I tried to call the ACLU but the main number referred me to the three California branches, none of which is open. Apparently it's an early Christmas for the ACLU of California. I don't actually know which branch would cover Victorville and since I can't talk to a human I don't know which to leave a message for. And besides, this guy is in pain and likely to lose his eye, this isn't something that can wait until January.
I don't know what else to do, who to contact, so I'm reaching out to you in the hopes that you may have an idea of what I should do next. I have as much info on him as I could get, and my DIL is willing to talk to anyone who can help. So do you have any ideas of who I can talk to and what we can do to help this man? Yes, he's a bad, bad dude, but even bad dudes have a right to reasonable medical treatment under the law.
"The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons," is attributed to Dostoyevsky. This guy is a bad dude -- but I think that civilization requires that when he gets the bone holding in his eye crushed, and he needs surgery, you get him the surgery while it can still save the eye. If you can help, you know how to reach me. I'll get your e-mail to my friend if you can help personally.
Fri Dec 23, 2011 at 9:38 AM PT: Sometimes good things happen. Click here to read about the happy ending.