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Friday, February 28, 2014

Inmate Dies While Officer Stands By

Buckingham Correctional Center
Two prisoners wrote me recently about the untimely death of their friend Ed Stewart, an inmate at the Buckingham Correctional Center near Dillwyn. Mr. Stewart died February 18 of an apparent heart attack while working at the facility's metal shop.

One of the prison guards called for medical help, but did nothing to offer emergency first aid to the victim, in spite of having been trained in CPR, something mandated for all officers every year. There is apparently no policy regarding security officers being required to apply the life-saving procedure, only that they know how to do so.

Meanwhile, dozens of other inmates and staff members also stood helplessly by until the medical team arrived. But by then it was too late.

Sadly, Mr. Stewart is just one of many incarcerated citizens who will sooner or later die in prison.

One of the persons who described Ed's death also wrote this:

I was 17 when I was jailed on a breaking and entering and theft charge. My public defender told me if I would accept an Alford Plea I would just have to go to prison, take all the classes and treatment offered and that I would then earn first parole. I have been a model prisoner since January 24, 1993, and have yet to be granted parole. Why do they have us take educational and vocational classes and programs if they are going to punish us until we die? 

I do not understand why churches are not trying to help us. I grew up in a Nazarene church. I know I will never commit a crime again. Many of us are praying that we can be released on parole while we are still able to get a job and take care of ourselves, while Virginia is just waiting for us to die.

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10 comments:

  1. Were you ever a CO? Have you ever worked with these poor downtrodden fellows? How much work have you done with people who would like nothing more than to see you fail? Whose goal in life is to screw you over in any way they can? I'm not saying the CO's were right here, I'm not saying they were wrong,,,,,,,I'm saying that you don't know what happened any more than I do. You just happen to want to post the worst case scenario. Simple fact of the matter is inmates lie and they want to make us look bad more than anything, and people like you do when you post first and damn the truth or the consequences. Truth is, neither one of us knows what happened there, and whether wrong was done. The difference is that you choose to blindly believe whatever a person(who is in jail for some obvious, glaring, real reason), rather than believe the officer. We don't ask much, but when you hear stories(and most times thats what they are), and count them as gospel truth, you do the good guys a severe injustice too. And we are only guilty by association!!!!!!!!
    Sincerely, your Nephew.

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    1. Thanks so much for your response, and I totally understand where you are coming from.

      And my apology for being so tardy in posting this and responding to it! I had just changed my settings to require previewing comments before posting and I expected to be notified by email whenever anyone responded as the program had done before.
      In this case I had two individuals write me about the same incident, neither of them blaming the individual CO so much as there being an apparent lack of clarity about officers being mandated to immediately use the CPR for which they are trained rather than radioing for medical help which arrived too late.
      The case is being investigated and I'll be glad to report the findings when I get them.

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  2. What was the crime Ed Stewart was sentenced to life plus 25 years?

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    1. Abduction with intent to defile, forcible sodomy and attempted rape of an 8 year old girl... here is the link
      https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1012069.html

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  3. I actually didn't know Mr. Stewart and don't know what his crime was. Maybe I can find out.

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  4. Happened to google Ed Stewart's name when searching to see the Virginia Parole Board results... As I like to keep informed on his decision... October was usually the month he was eligible for parole... As his ex-wife who was beaten by him in 1984.... I had forewarned the courts he would harm others... to which he kidnapped, raped and sodomized a poor innocent child within a few years of our divorce.. May he rest in peace... but now he can never harm another... or come back to harm me.

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    1. I'm always hesitant to post a comment like this without a name attached, but if this is true, I am deeply sorry for all you and others have suffered. Is there in your mind any hope that someone by the grace of God and in a decently run "Department of Corrections" could become a genuinely changed person?

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    2. I'm not sure why my name didn't appear when I originally posted this in October... yes... it is true... If you care to check police records... Millington, TN, 1984... State vs Edward Stewart... charges of Assault and battery were filed by me at the time my name was Brenda Stewart. I don't think someone in a Decently run DOC could change a person. As I had written Ed shortly before his death and asked why he did it to me... and his response was ... What you remember and what I remember are two different things. You cannot change the mind set of a psycho path...

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    3. By the way.... even though the only charge in Millington, TN was assault and battery.... it was only because you couldn't be charged with raping your wife.... even though we lived apart and were legally separated he broke into my house and beat and raped me on my own bedroom floor. Thus charges i brought against him were dropped since I was legally his wife... pull the file Millington, TN 1984. And shortly after he abducted with intent to defile, forcible sodomy and attempted rape on an 8 year old girl..... People will be who they want to be if they have a chance to get out... He did it when he was in the Naval Brig .. showed what a model prisoner got out... back in prison... just another revolving door.

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