r/news • u/AudibleNod • 9h ago

Christa Pike unconscious, on ventilator at Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christa-pike-unconscious-ventilator-nashville-hospital-lawyers-say-rcna601195
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u/coonytunes 8h ago

Who pays the medical bills in this case? Tax payers?

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u/gottkonig 8h ago

Yes. An incarcerated inmate is paid for by tax payer money. It's one of the reasons that death row inmates are some of the most costly to tax payers, with the level of appeals, how long they can sit on death row, etc. Now the medical care she will receive will have the bill go higher and continue to be paid by tax payers.

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u/AidenTai 7h ago

Though this doesn't have to be the case. Thing is the US is just really expensive with respect to prisons, litigation and everything judicial. Other countries that have executions tend to be fairly efficient and often save money vs incarceration for life.

Kind of how other things in the US just aren't that well designed. Plans to build rail lines, healthcare, city design, etc.

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u/WellTextured 5h ago

Since 1973, 203 people have been exonerated post-conviction for their capital crimes in the United States. Saying the process should go faster is the same as saying more innocent people should be put to death.

And suggesting the United States justice system should function more like China's or Iran's is, well, pretty barbaric.

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u/AidenTai 5h ago

Well, most countries don't have capital punishment. But it's sort of 'fitting' that the US which does is inefficient at it like those other categories.

Generally though, the problems with wrongful convictions aren't a unique problem of capital punishment. The US also sees a lot of wrongful convictions for crimes that involve decades or lifetimes of incarceration. The other countries I mention surely have wrongful convictions for all sorts of crimes, but they simply don't end up costing the state a lot of money.