LOS ANGELES, California – Lawyers for the convicted Grenadian-born doctor in the death of American superstar Michael Jackson claim their client’s cramped jail cell is killing him.
They have, therefore, written Los Angeles County jail officials asking that the jail conditions for Dr Conrad Murray, who grew up in Trinidad, be immediately addressed.
The lawyers said Dr Murray, who is 6 feet, 5 inches tall, lives in a 5-by-7-foot cell.
They said Dr Murray, who is serving a four-year sentence in the pop star’s 2009 death, only gets two hours of exercise in a rooftop “cage” each Monday.
“He’s being housed like a piece of veal,” lawyer Michael Flanagan told reporters here.
“He can’t even do jumping jacks in his cell,” they added. “The bed takes up three feet, and there’s a toilet in there, too. It’s awful what they’re doing to him.”
Flanagan said Dr Murray was rushed to the hospital this week fearing he might die from blood clots in his legs.
But Nicole Nishida, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said Murray is “not dying in jail.
“People over at the jail did speak with him today, and he’s alive and receiving proper medical treatment,” she said.
“He’s receiving really good treatment in fact,” she added. “He has some issues and concerns, and we’re working with him.”
Nishida said Murray is in a standard-sized cell and that other inmates are even larger than him. “We do understand he has concerns, and we are listening to him,” she said.
But Murray’s lawyers said he is suffering from “dangerously slow” blood flow in his lower extremities, along with right shoulder pain and loss of mobility.
They said the symptoms put their client at high risk of deep vein thrombosis, which could lead to permanent damage or even death.
“Anybody who watched the (involuntary manslaughter) trial that ended almost a year ago, they wouldn’t recognize him walking on the street today,” Flanagan said.
“His hair has turned gray. He’s down 20 or 30 pounds,” he added. “He’s very gaunt-looking and has a hard time walking.”
The letter states that “death or injury at the hands of another prisoner is no worse than a slow death caused by a loss of circulation and atrophy resulting from inhumane confinement of a large man in a tiny space.”
“If you put your puppy in the box you take to the vet and then left him in that box for a year or two years, what kind of condition would he be in?” Flanagan asked. “What kind of animal are you going to have coming out of there?” (CMC)
