Exclusive: a Guardian investigation finds that inmates who died of preventable conditions were deemed malingerers and ‘time wasters’

Jennifer Jasper-Thompson was shocked when she received a call from the New Jersey department of corrections (DOC). Her nephew Damien Jasper, who had been incarcerated at Northern state prison in Newark, was dead at just 32.

His autopsy indicated that he had died from testicular cancer, considered one of the most treatable forms of cancer, even when caught in an advanced stage, with an overall five-year survival rate of 95%, according to the American Cancer Society.

Despite having a visible tumor and complaining for many months about severe pain, Jasper never received a cancer diagnosis or any treatment, according to records reviewed by the Guardian. Hence his family’s surprise, which soon turned not just to grief but outrage.

“The department of corrections killed my nephew,” Jasper-Thompson said.

    • SSUPII@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      7 months ago

      You can get cancer as a small child too. Cancer can come at any age if you are unlucky enough

        • treefrog@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          I don’t think you understand karma. It’s individual, and collective. In other words, it’s our nation’s karma that helped cause this as much as anything he did in this life or any previous ones

          But, way to subtly blame the victim for having his cancer ignored by the people in charge of his care.

            • treefrog@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              7 months ago

              It’s not discharged on rebirth. And birth and death are both ultimately illusions.

              Do you study karma and how it works, or just use it as a pop culture weapon against young black men who die in the care of the State?