NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org
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For release: February 11, 2000
WASHINGTON, DC -- A decision by Arizona prosecutors
to put a
woman with no arms and only one leg in prison for a year for a
minor
marijuana violation -- at a cost to taxpayers of $126,000 -- shows
how
pitiless and immoral the War on Drugs has become, the Libertarian
Party
said today.
"Arizona prosecutors aren't content with inflicting
cruel and
unusual punishment on handicapped people; they apparently prefer
their
punishment to be ridiculously expensive, too," said Steve
Dasbach, the
party's national director.
"When you consider that for the cost of locking
up one
handicapped woman who sold $20 of marijuana, Arizona could have
put
four murderers in a maximum security prison for a year, you have
to
wonder who's committing the real crime."
This week, Deborah Lynn Quinn was placed in a "secure"
medical
unit by the Arizona Corrections Department. Her crime: Selling
$20 of
marijuana (four grams) to a police informant -- and then being
caught
with a small amount of marijuana in her home after being placed
on
probation.
Because she was born with no arms and only a partial
left leg,
Quinn, 39, can't be sent to a regular prison. So, the state will
pay
$126,000 -- or $345 a day -- to keep her imprisoned in a special
medical unit.
By comparison, it costs the Arizona state government
only $90 a
day to keep a violent felon in a maximum security prison, and
only
$45-$50 a day to keep a typical inmate behind bars.
While the details and cost of Quinn's sentence may
be unusual,
her plight is all too common, said Dasbach.
"Deborah Lynn Quinn is attracting attention because
she is
handicapped, and because her situation is so tragic," he
said. "But
keep in mind: She was just one of 682,885 Americans arrested in
1998 on
marijuana-related charges. And every one of those 682,885 Americans
faced criminal charges, possible time in jail, lost employment,
and
shattered lives. The War on Drugs has handicapped their future
as
surely as the lack of arms and a leg has handicapped Deborah Lynn
Quinn."
Even worse, said Dasbach, is the fact that more people
were
arrested nationwide that year for marijuana charges (682,885)
than were
arrested for murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault combined
(676,020), according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report.
"Every one of those marijuana arrests meant less
police time,
less money, less court time, and fewer jail cells available to
protect
us from violent criminals," he said. "Does that make
sense? And,
likewise, does it really make sense for Arizona to spend $126,000
to
keep a tragically handicapped woman behind bars for a year?"
In fact, the price tag for Quinn is so outrageous that
at least
one Corrections officer is lobbying for a reduced or alternative
sentence. However, Mohave County Chief Deputy Attorney Jace Zack
said
the punishment was appropriate because "drug dealers [are]
dangerous
people."
But not as dangerous as crusading anti-drug zealots
who don't
care about compassion, decency, or common sense when waging their
failed War on Drugs, said Dasbach.
"Deborah Lynn Quinn may have no arms," he
said. "But the people
who put her in prison have no heart."