Unbelievably tragic. My condolences to the Montoya family. Very hard to understand the lack of compassion and the apathy shown for a man screaming out in agony.

Very telling of our prison system. A non-violent drug user with cancer, AIDS, and Hep. C left to rot to death in his cell for days with nothing but a little Tylenol. How the guards could sleep at night knowing the left another human being in that condition is beyond me. Another example of guards showing that prisoners are nothing more than sub-human, violent, psychopathic, openly or passively homosexual, worthless animals to them.

There is absolutely no reason for this to have happened. The prison health care system is so different. Many of the people who work there are not very sensitive to the needs of the inmates. There is a lot of manipulation that goes on and a lot of drug seeking behavior. Staff become calous to the needs of the inmates and they often fail to take a close look at what the inmate is really saying to them and fail to perform a complete exam. Plus, health services are often contracted out to another provider and the mission is to keep the costs of health care as low as possible. And believe me they hammer you when you provide more care than they feel is necessary, even though they are in an office somewhere and have never actually seen the patient in question. It is a sad problem. I understand that these people, in many cases, have committed horrible crimes but that does not make up the majority of the prison population. I mean really. Do you have to die of neglect in prison for writing a hot check?

Inmates are considered antisocial just for being in prison. Not uncommon to be drug seeking too. Maybe the Guards new he was sick but they don't get paid and aren't allowed to diagnose an illness. Since he was taken to the Clinic then a Nurse probably saw him and I mean maybe. Without a doctor you won't get a prescription pain killer. It does not bother me he died, only that he died in discomfort. He is but 1 prisoner of many many others. He died in prison for what he did, not for what others did to him.

The news item reminded me of an old film called Chattanooga that was rerun recently in memory of late Dennis Harper. It depicts the daily abuse of an inmate that seeks medical attention but ends on a happy note with him being able to smuggle a plea to the Governor who sends an investigative team that find the Warden and his goons guilty of the charges. Several including the Warden and the Prison Doctor are disciplined or fired.

Unfortunately, the excuse of pressing medical needs is often used by even relatively healthy inmates to avoid the work detail assigned to them or to escape even temporarily the oppressing environment of an incarcerating facility. This in turn induces a desentitizing apathy among the Corrections Officers and a really deservig case of medical emergency is not readily recognized. As to medications disappearing, a thriving "trade" in illicit and presciption medicine often prevails in most correctional institutions. It is a barter system with or without the tacit subscription of many a CO.

And furthermore, why aren't inmates blood tested to see if the have diseases like HIV or Hep. C? These diseases are contagious and inmates known to have them are kept segregation to protect staff and other inmates. But if it isn't on their medical records, all an inmate needs to do is deny having them and they are put into general population. Common, because most people don't want to be kept in isolation. Simple blood testing could help eliminate the spread of AIDS and Hepatitis transferred though sex/rape, intravenous drug use, and tatoos in prison. I can't see how anyone could claim a blood test is violating an inmate's rights when cavity searches are the norm. I'm not saying do a blood test on everyone that goes to county jail but it should be done on all prison inmates. It's a matter of public safety.

Folks, it does not matter pertaining to inmates regardless of their crimes. He was a human person and was sick, and needed to get to a hospital. The signs of his illness was so obvious, its smacks dab at human decency and they have a right to be medically treated so why did they let him die such a horrible death????.

Not only that the Prison system violated the Geneva convention as well regarding treatment for prisoners. Everyone has a right to some human decency and medical treatment when needed and called for. The handling of this inmate is shocking to a persons senses and totally uncalled for.

Fire all those involved and strip them of their pensions and I hope they get sued to oblivion and never is allowed to guard another prisoner for life. We don't need these kind of guards or wardens that still live in medieval times working in prison systems.

The family lost their son doing only a two year stint and also lost the opportunity to maybe save his life. Compensation is moot as you cannot bring back a dead person. Money will not bring solace to a grieving family. Its done and the damage is beyond words that can be described.

This kind of treatment goes against American Human decency to people. I am sure many of you will agree.

RIP inmate and my condolences to the family.

Good luck.

I was once an inmate in jail. I had suffered a severe shoulder injury putting my mattress up on the top bunk.  The guards actually laughed at me when i aasked for medical treatment. i was in tears because of the intense pain, and was never even given anything for the pain. To this day i have pain in my shoulder, numbness, and nerve damage.  Just becuase someone is incarcerated, doesn't mean they dont deserve to get prompt medical care. It is criminal to deny a person the basic necessity of seeing a doctor when there is a condition that warrants it. i hope these guards and the warden running that institution are dulely punished for their cruelty towards this man.

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The government slobbers over the traitor and murderer who slaughtered and injured all those defenseless soldiers at Fort Hood, but allows a man convicted of "passing counterfeit checks" and suffering from cancer, hepatitis, and HIV to die alone and in agony. Those prison guards on duty at the time should be thrown in cells and treated the same way.

The warden "respectfully disagrees" with the notion that Montoya received inadequate care? I respectfully disagree that anally raping the warden and his lackeys with broomsticks would be severe enough justice for these despicable cowards.

This type of situation seems to be happening more and more.  I believe it is because prisons are privately owned.  Regulations are enforced according to the mood and attitude of the guards and owners.  If they aren't checked on and regulated by the government they can just about get away with anything.  NO ONE deserves to be treated this way, in fact people that work in animal shelters are subject to prosecution if they were to do the same to an animal.  The people that ignored his pleas should remember that what goes around comes around, they better start watching they will be getting the same kind of care down the road.

This is one of the most disturbing stories that I have read in a long, long time. The lack of compassion in people astounds me. I am so sorry for this family & for the suffering that this man endured.

Inmate medical and mental health records are considered 'private' and not made available to security officers. Inmate with serious illnesses are housed in the medical facility. Most prisons, state and federal, are seriously understaffed, in a medical situation SOPs requires the inmate to be escorted by two officers to the medical unit. If there is not enough officers, those who break SOPs by leaving their posts are subject to fines and even job loss.

Granted, much more should have been done, but the officers may not have had the training or time to deal with this is a better manner. Had they been aware of his medical condition they may had treated him better, but in my experience, 1 ot of every 2 inmates feign illness (malingering) and are seeking POWERFUL medication.

I went to jail for 3 days in Lake county Or. I brought my meds with me in their Prescription bottles and had to yell for them to be given to me for hours before they allowed some of them to be given to me! So I understand what happened to him.

I hope this isnt an example of obamas new universal healthcare plan.

This sounds like a story you would expect to hear about a 3rd world countries prison system,not the prison system of the worlds richest country.

if someone were to treat a family member or a child like that, they would be charged with negligent homicide

"Inmate medical and mental health records are considered 'private' and not made available to security officers."

Which is why diagnosing medical problems is not part of their job description, but summoning competent trained medical assistance is part of their job. No matter how you try to rationalize it the guards failed to do their jobs and their failure caused someone to die a slow painful death.

Was Dennis Harper the guy in easy rider along with Peter Farnda ?

In VA-DOC guards are not allowed to "diagnose" an illness. Often the health care is privatized and something totally diffferent than "security" But at the same they can inisist an inmate is taken to medical for evaluation. Sad part is Drs. are not 24/7 and 9.5 out of 10 times send the inmate back to their cell with generic tylenol. I am sure with the cancer and Hep. he definelty had visible signs of serious illness. But remember inmates are downgraded and regardless of their crime they are 2nd class citizens for life. I know as I still carry the cross of my mistakes daily. Even if the staff had wanted this person treated more effectively point is unless a staff DR. takes charge the others can do nothin and they won't do a DAMN thing

I hate to sound like a broken record but this just stinks of the moral decay that's going on in every facet of modern day life. If we don't get a hold of this now, and teach people compassion and take away the goal of monetary gain (i.e. it's just a job...) it's going to get a lot worse. I worry for the future. In every aspect of society apathy is common. Everyone is out for themselves and could care less about other individuals.

I think it would be scary to grow old or be sick in our modern society and have to depend on another for care.

What did this man do that was so bad that he deserved to die in this manner? He passed a few bad checks. How many of us, myself included, have bounced a check? Nobody deserves to die in this kind of agony, having an internal organ explode, because of some bad checks. This was ridiculous and unforgivable.

I Wonder how many people without healthcare are going through that agony right now but there at home (Out of site out of mind eh America)

another fine example of these institutions invoking there god playing mindset that's going on in many city jails county jails and prisons all over the country maybe they should send us citizens to gitmo to get proper med care

The prison system should be held accountable for this. This is a total disregard for human life and the prison warden was playing God and he had no right. This is what happens when you give man too much power and there is no one to keep him in check. This applies to the police also. In my opinion the only law enforcement we should have is the FBI. they seem to be the only ones who think with their brains and not their feelings, you need to have a heart and common sense when you do these jobs. God have mercy on those that were involved, may they have sleepness nights.

I think this is horrible. I understand that people do wrong and they end up in prision but that doesnt mean that the people in jail are animals and you can just leave them to die. I really wish that the guards state cops even the states attorneys would put themselves in the families shoes and see how it feels to be neglected. To the family I give you sympthy for your loss. You better file a law suit because you lost your son make the state/guards loose something. I would contact the guards who were on duty that night and sue them for adbandonment. They have those buttons in their cells for a reason. Geez I cant stand how the system works!

Prison officials are the scum they think all inmates are. So-called correctional officers are men and women who would otherwise be unemployable. There are few humane, compassionate c.o.s and they generally don't last long among those who wanted to be real cops but couldn't even make it into the academy let alone succeed. Often they've been Viet Nam vet flakes who are on the verge of going off the deep end. Only inmate abuse feeds their need to dominate others and keep them "normal" on the outside.

The second part of the problem is the public's indifference and ignorance to the human suffering inflicted physically, psychologically, and morally upon inmates. Prison officials will talk about programs for this and that, but for the most part they neither educate or train for gainful employment nor do they "correct" the errant behavior that put the inmate in prison.

The third part of the problem is the false but accepted notion that the justice system benefits the public by assuring or increasing safety, and benefits the criminal by giving him the time, place, and means to rehabilitate. The only segment of the population that benefits are police, lawyers, judges, jailers, and politicians. Believe me, they all know how to milk the system.