Heart Attacks
By: Chris Holbrook
An old prisoner was so sick that he couldn't work. In its
generosity, the Pennsylvania Department of Imprisonment "gave"
him a tiny stipend. He was given 72¢ for each weekday that he
could remain alive. That's $3.60 a week or about $14.40 per month
if there are no holidays in it. The old prisoner and those like
him didn't get a stipend for holidays.
In reality, the money given to the sick old fellow was promptly returned to the prison. The prisoner bought soap, toothpaste and similar necessities from the prison commissary. If he had some additional source of outside income, he might use the stipend toward paying for TV cable. TV helped him while away the long years. The cable cost $15.75. His stipend wasn't really enough to pay for it. As too often happens with older persons, the prisoner suffered some heart attacks. They didn't quite kill him off. They just made him very weak, almost an invalid. The Pennsylvania prison system was not pleased with the old fellow. It punished him for having heart attacks. It promptly cut his pay by 30%! As punishment for having unauthorized heart attacks, the fellow was reduced to a mere 50¢ per weekday stipend, $2.50 per week, $10 per month. In effect, because he had heart attacks, he was punished with the loss of his TV entertainment. The idea seemed to be that the patient would be "corrected" if he was fined for having heart attacks. The Department of Imprisonment likes to call itself the Department of "Corrections." The only "correction" it does is punish the heart attack victims. That will teach him not to have any more heart attacks!
"The poor shall inherit the earth, You are welcome to use or re-publish
any of our material.
|