Death alone! No loved ones present.

The system failed Mr. and Mrs. Glen Anderson.  Not once.  Not twice.  But over and over again! 

Matt and I became very close to this story, because while Glen was writing letters to Matt, I was chatting by phone with Susan.

Here’s the situation. 

-Glen struggled with alcohol problems for years, and even went to prison for driving while intoxicated.
-He was diagnosed in 2013 with liver cancer, and a transplant could have saved his life.  But he says he started drinking again, and that erased his name from the waiting list.
-Then got arrested again.  He went back to prison again in 2015.

And that’s when the questions first arise. When a judge was fully aware that Glen had terminal cancer, why send him to prison for 3 to 7 and a half years?  That, in effect, was a death sentence!

Glen’s treatments continued on and off, but a prison doctor finally explained to him that there was no chance for recovery and his days were numbered.

He wouldn’t qualify for parole until next March, but as he told Matt in his letter, I just want to be with my wife and kids before my time comes.  Armed with medical evidence, he asked the Parole Board to recommend that the Governor commute his sentence.

On February 13 the Parole Board simply advised him that it had “no interest.”

In desperation, his wife Sue appealed to the Governor’s office.  Glen received a letter from the Governor’s legal counsel dated April 12, denying the request.  Obviously no one had even looked at his medical records.  Here the man was at death’s door step, and the attorney reminded him that he could apply again in two years!

Sue and Glen appealed to HFP.  When we receive calls like this, our first task is to verify the medical situation.  A fine oncologist on the HFP advisory team quickly responded, saying he wasn’t going to last long.

And he didn’t.  Prison healthcare officials in Adrian transferred him to a hospital in Jackson last weekend.  Meanwhile, HFP decided to attempt a Hail Mary pass and go straight to the front office of the MDOC the very first thing Monday morning.

Too late.

While his wife, his 95 year old mother and his sister were sitting in the hospital waiting room, hoping to make one last bedside visit, they were informed of Glenn’s death.

It’s our position the system failed.  A 60-year-old man, serving a sentence for a non-violent crime, who is dying of cancer, and he cannot get a compassionate release?  He’s considered a threat to society?  Come on.

A department spokesman would only tell me:  Medical commutations are rare, regardless of the offense type.

You think?

Sue tried, Glen tried, HFP tried.  I’m so sorry. 

Our condolences to the family.  The State of Michigan can do better than this.


Comments

David said…
What a truly awful and disturbing account. And it's more proof (not that any isw needed) that MDOC and the authorities are out of touch with the real world: the behaviour described here is like something out of the 'Dark Ages'. MDOC and the Parole Board really need to get a grip on what they should be doing - and how they should be doing it. No one should be treated as Glen was.
David
May 31, 2017 at 9:44 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that ...
Read more

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w...
Read more

Three lives, connected by a divine thread

My kids say it should be a book! The Doug, Pat and Mark story is a doozie!   About 25 years ago, while fighting to free Maurice Carter from prison, I read a newspaper column written by Pat Shellenbarger of the Grand Rapids Press on the topic of eyewitness identification. I contacted Pat re that story. That led to a friendship between Doug and Pat that continues to this day.   In subsequent months, Pat would go on to assist me in an investigation into the Maurice Carter case that eventually led to solving the crime.  That particular episode became a chapter in my book about the Carter case, SWEET FREEDOM, published in 2006.   Fast forward to 2009, A New York businessman claims wrongful conviction, and while serving time in a Michigan prison is handed a copy of my book. Mark Hartman, who was also convicted in Berrien County, was amazed at the similarity of these two stories and tried to reach out to me. His letters bounced.   Persisting in his efforts to c...
Read more