gaurding brain-dead prison inmate!!! jobs program for cops and prison gaurds??? it costs $1,056 a day to gaurd this brain-dead prison inmate. Original Article Posted on Sat, Feb. 05, 2005 Governor ridicules need to guard man in coma By Mark Gladstone Mercury News Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday assailed as ``ludicrous'' his own administration's policy of posting two officers on overtime to guard shackled and comatose inmates when they are hospitalized outside of prison walls. Citing various shortcomings in the prison system, Schwarzenegger said the state needs to ``tighten the screw so we don't have this misuse of money. And instead of having these two guys standing there 24 hours a day guarding this guy that is in a coma, why not have these two guys working somewhere else where they really are needed.'' Recent Mercury News articles have revealed the 60 percent jump over the past six years in spending to guard and transport severely ill inmates. The standard policy is to have two guards, one armed, watch over sick inmates sent to community hospitals and to shackle the prisoners to thwart escapes. The governor's comments follow Mercury News reports about the case of Daniel Provencio. He is being guarded around the clock only by a single officer at a cost of $1,056 a day, even though his family has been told he's brain dead. Provencio, 28, was shot by a guard Jan. 16 at Wasco State Prison. He was hit in the head with a foam projectile used in riot control. The shooting is under investigation. After the governor's appearance before the Mercury News editorial board Friday morning, the Department of Corrections announced that Provencio had been unshackled in his room at Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield. ``A guard will remain at the hospital to ensure that the proper visitors are visiting him,'' said Todd Slosek, a Department of Corrections spokesman. ``Potentially, someone could come in and wheel him out.'' Slosek said the Provencio case is ``very complicated'' and is freighted with legal issues. ``We could parole him, but the decision was made not to because we don't want to dump the cost and liability on the hospital,'' said Slosek. He added that Provencio, most recently a construction worker, would be eligible for Medi-Cal, but under that program for the indigent the hospital would be reimbursed at a lower rate. Provencio's mother, Nancy Mendoza, said she is clinging to hope that her son might recover, even though she has been told by doctors that he is brain dead. Mendoza said another of her 10 children went into a coma as an infant and recovered and is now 29. ``I've told my children that if I feel at any time that Danny won't pull out of this, I'll let him go,'' Mendoza said. ``There's hope.'' Provencio, a high school wrestler, was sent to prison originally on drug charges. He was released but returned in August on parole violations, including drunken driving. Last month, he apparently tried to interfere with officers seeking to break up a fight at Wasco State Prison. Slosek reiterated Friday that the department is seeking to adjust its overall guarding policy to deal with cases like Provencio's. While the cost of guarding Provencio is more than $1,000 a day, the department has not been able to estimate the cost of his medical care to the taxpayers. But Mendoza cannot give up hope. ``All his organs are functioning,'' she said. ``It means he's still alive and gives him the opportunity to survive.'' Mercury News Staff Writer Dion Nissenbaum contributed to this report. Contact Mark Gladstone at mgladstone@mercurynews.com or (916) 325-4314. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/02/05/backpage/2_4_0520_33_59.txt Brain-dead inmate lies in limbo as family fights to free him By: BRIAN MELLEY - Associated Press SACRAMENTO -- An inmate who was left brain-dead after being shot by a prison guard nearly three weeks ago lay in a hospital bed Friday, guarded around the clock at a cost of more than $1,000 a day in a situation family members and a lawmaker called absurd. "This sounds like something out of a Stephen King novel," said Democratic state Sen. Gloria Romero. "Why are we guarding a dead man?"' State corrections officials tried to find a way around a department policy that requires guarding hospitalized inmates. They compromised Friday afternoon by unchaining the inmate's legs but kept a guard on duty so he couldn't be smuggled from the hospital. Daniel Provencio, 28, was shot in the head with a supposedly nonlethal foam projectile while he allegedly tried to prevent guards from breaking up a fight between two other inmates. The state has spent $1,056 a day in overtime guarding Provencio since he was taken Jan. 16 to a Bakersfield hospital, where he lay hooked up to a ventilator. The Corrections Department continued to pay for Provencio's medical care because his family, hoping for some miracle, wanted him on life support. Romero said the issue of whether to pull the plug or keep Provencio in his current state is complicated by a rift among family members. The decision may be left to a hospital ethics committee. The department said it was trying to waive its policy so Provencio could be moved to a nursing home or halfway house, but it was unclear who would pick up the tab and the possibility seemed unlikely late Friday, said spokesman Todd Slosek. "He's in such a critically medicated state that there are very, very few options for him to be released to an outside facility, and we've had no takers," Slosek said. To some of Provencio's family the situation is heartbreaking and bizarre. Relatives, who live about a two-hour drive away, are allowed to visit for only one hour a day, during which they are watched by a guard. "I don't know if they think I'm going fit him in my back pocket and take him out, but that ain't going to happen," said the inmate's mother, Nancy Mendoza. "For them to keep him shackled and have a guard inside, for a person they consider dead, that's kind of crazy." Corrections officials said that any inmate taken out of prison for treatment must be shackled and guarded to protect the public, hospital employees and guards. The policy is also tied to contracts with hospitals that treat inmates and the powerful prison guards' union. The hospital and guards went along with the decision to remove the shackles, the department said. The state spent $29 million guarding medical patients last year, the department said. The San Jose Mercury News reported recently that the department spent $81,745 to watch over a heavily sedated prisoner for 58 days and paid $55,305 to guard a paraplegic with a lung infection during a 45-day hospital stay. Romero, who chairs an investigative committee looking at the troubled prison system, said she was told by Corrections Director Jeanne Woodford that no other dead men are in the system. "If there are other dead men or dead-like, we should have a policy in place," Romero said. "It is a bit disturbing to be in a situation where we're crafting policy." Provencio allegedly tried to prevent guards from breaking up a fight and disobeyed an order to stand down. A guard in an elevated gunner's station fired a 40 mm foam projectile, ordinarily considered nonlethal. The projectile is supposed to be shot at arms and legs, but Provencio was struck in the head. The guard, who has not been named, remains at work while three investigations are conducted into the incident. Provencio is listed in critical condition at Mercy Hospital, where he is hooked up to a heart monitor, intravenous tubes and a ventilator that keeps him breathing. Mendoza said her son was sent to prison for violating parole on drug convictions by driving drunk. The last time his family saw him alive was in a Ventura County jail before he was moved to Wasco State Prison near Bakersfield, where he was shot. Now the only sign of life is an occasional finger twitch or an eyelid opening, his older brother, Johnny Provencio Jr. said. "I don't know if they're expecting him to walk out of there," his brother said. "If they believe he's brain-dead, where is he going to go?" http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/12225636p-13089580c.html Editorial: Beyond bizarre He may be dead, but he's eligible for parole Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, February 3, 2005 What does it take to get declared dead in California, anyway? The question isn't as dumb as it may seem. Consider: A person who is declared brain dead is legally and physiologically dead. "Brain dead" is dead. By that standard, a Wasco State Prison inmate surely qualifies as being dead. So why is he being treated as alive? The prisoner, Daniel Provencio, has been at Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield since he was shot in the head with a "foam" bullet by a prison guard Jan. 16. Members of Provencio's family told the Bakersfield Californian that doctors declared him clinically dead the morning of Jan. 20 after tests found no brain activity. Under California law, the hospital must do two examinations by two different doctors to determine death. If the patient meets all criteria for death on both examinations, this is noted in the medical record at the time of the second exam and is recorded as the time of death. The coroner's office typically is called as soon as death is declared. Yet Provencio's mother said Wasco Warden P.L. Vazquez expects Provencio to "serve out his sentence" from a hospital bed. The family has asked obvious questions: "If he's dead, why are they keeping him? How does a dead man do time?" Here's how. Provencio is on a mechanical ventilator and a feeding tube, even though he's dead. And he's shackled to the bed by both ankles, even though he's dead. He's being guarded by prison guards 'round-the-clock at a cost of $1,056-a-day, even though he's dead. No, we are not making this up. But the absurdities don't end there. The Department of Corrections apparently now is considering a "compromise" that might allow the dead man to be released on "early parole." Obviously, this preposterous situation can't go on. The hospital needs to step forward and make a definitive declaration: Is Provencio dead? If yes, what was his time of death, and why hasn't he been released for burial? Time of death is recorded on a patient's chart as the time he met the criteria of brain death. If he's not dead, who told the family that Provencio is "brain dead," which is dead-dead? Either the family is being denied the right to bury their relative or they have been subjected to a huge hoax. The absurdities aren't confined to the handling of Provencio's current condition. Consider the chain of events that led to the present situation. At Wasco State Prison on Jan. 16, two inmates were fighting; Provencio apparently tried to prevent prison guards from intervening. KGET-TV 17 News reported that the incident was an "alcohol-fueled brawl between inmates." Officers told the station that inmates brew fruit and other food ingredients. A guard shot Provencio in the head, though "foam" bullets are meant to be fired at a person's legs and arms. Alcohol production and brawls. Shooting inmates in the head. Shackling and guarding a dead inmate. What is going on at this prison? The Department of Corrections needs to get control of this out-of-control institution. And it needs to end the macabre saga of the (apparently) late Daniel Provencio. http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=2903994 SACRAMENTO An inmate who was left brain-dead after being shot by a prison guard nearly three weeks ago remains shackled to a hospital bed today. He is guarded around the clock at a cost of more than a thousand dollars a day, in a situation family members and a lawmaker called absurd. Twenty-eight-year-old Daniel Provencio was shot in the head with a nonlethal foam projectile while he allegedly tried to prevent guards from breaking up a fight between two other inmates. State corrections officials say department policy requires the guarding of hospitalized inmates, but they are trying to find a way around the rule. The Corrections Department continues to pay for Provencio's medical care because his family, hoping for a miracle, want him on life support. Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.