Rape Victim Jailed and refused medication

This is horrrendous. A rape victim, put in jail overnight the day OF the rape, the cell attendent refusing to give her her prescribed Morning After Medication, due to her own "religious convictions" and the investigation stopped, because the rape victim owed someone some money.

Who says we have equality?

 

Yes, the jail worker should fired, and fined. This is worse than infuriating. I get so tired of the system, and its treatment of women and minorities. I can't understand why this keeps on happening.

Not to mention the idiot far-right Christians who feel they hold the moral high-ground, and everyone else (including the govt.) should structure their lives and laws according to their flawed sense of morals. Let the far right wing Christians live their lives as they choose, and leave everyone else alone. But, I guess that isn't part of their doctrine, is it? Gotta convert everyone, no matter how much pain and harm it causes. Gotta infiltrate the system so that everybody lives a "godly" life, according to their definition of godly. I'm not including all Christians in this tirade of mine, just the ones who insist on trying to force their beliefs on everyone else.

Sorry for the tangent...thanks for posting this, Maggie..very important to know.

 

that is absolutely horrible! It is a horrible thing that still in 2007 we don't have full equality yet. So if this woman does become pregnant she will most likely be denied an abortion. Are freedoms are being taken away from these religious freaks!

 

If she gets pregnant, the County who arrested her, and the jail attendent should be forced to pay for all of her and the child's medical expenses, living expenses ect, all the way through the child's college education. WHO do these people think they are? Trying to force a womyn to carry a rapists spawn?

 

Well this is horrible but I don't see what it has to do with equality. If you have a warrent out they arrest you. In this case I would say they should have made an exception. I can't believe they wouldn't provide her with the pill.

 

I agree, absolutely.

 

she's only been working there for 6 months and was asked by the victim to give out some meds without any specific orders? Of course she's stick to the rules. No it doesn't make it right, but I'm more p/o ed about getting stuck in jail than some newbie following the rules as she knows them. Yeah it would've been prudent for her to ask her supervisor about what to do but... rock and a hard place.

 

Noting the part of the article that ihmurria quoted, it appears to be a she said/she said situation regarding the reasons the pill was not administered. The jail should do a thorough investigation, looking for any witnesses who can verify one version or the other -- whether the attendant ever mentioned religious convictions or not. If there is any proof that she did mention religion, she should be fired and fined. Otherwise, maybe give her a slap on the wrist for not seeing a supervisor, but she was just following protocol.

The police, on the other hand, made a huge error in judgment -- even if the victim was guilty of intentionally not paying (as compared to her claim that she thought she had paid it off), even if the victim had active warrants out for something more serious, catching a dangerous predator should have been the #1 priority. They've got the woman in their squad car, she obviously called them, so as long as they didn't let on that they knew of the warrants she wouldn't run -- finish the investigation THEN do what needs to be done about her.

The arresting officers are the ones who should receive the bulk of the flame-throwing. They committed a HUGE dereliction of duty (failing to pursue a violent offender in favor of arresting on an old non-violent property crime).

 

link?

 

in a country of supposed religious freedom, surely the jail should have another person on hand qualified to dispense the medication. respect for the beliefs of others SHOULD be universal. ihmurria brings up a good point, about the other, potentially valid reasons for her to not give the medication. there should be a doctor on hand for that sort of thing, anyway. the fact taht she was jailed was horrible, but also a consequence of her own actions in her theft of someone else's property. it's an ugly bitch of a thing.

 

Yet another reminder of why America pisses me off sometimes.

How dare they not give her the second dose of the morning after pill! First they treat her in such an awful way, now they are putting her at risk for being pregnant by a rapist! Grr....people who do stuff like that piss me off!

 

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that is awful.

 

So.. Tell us how you really feel Sus!:bigear:

 

Maggie, do you have a link to that article? I want to know where it came from, so that I may use it.

 

She reported the rape Saturday afternoon, and officers took her to a rape crisis center where she was given the first of two doses of the morning-after pill, McElroy said. The second dose is supposed to be taken within 24 hours.

Tampa attorney Jennifer D'Angelo, who represents the jail worker, said Tuesday that her client is prohibited from giving inmates any medication without specific orders. The worker insists she never discussed religion with the woman who reported being raped.



So.... the officers took her to a rape crisis center, were there when she was given the meds, and knew she was to take the second pill 24 hours later... I don't understand why they didn't give to her, it isn't like she just brought medicine off the street with her, they were there when she got it, in fact they brought her to the place where she got it. People.... just don't make sense to me.

 

Aristartle, it was from the Comcast Cable Internet News home page. The date I first posted.

I'm sorry I don't have the exact link. But, if you go to the Comcast home page, it should be there.

 

Here's a link to the story on yahoo... (fyi, I just googled the AP writer's name...)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_on_re_us/jailed_rape_victim

 

What an evil story... where's the justice?