Binky
09-22-2007, 07:10 PM
PAEY STARTS AFRESH WITH CALL FROM CRIST
HUDSON - Tomoka Correctional Institution was his fourth prison in nearly four years. But Richard Paey never considered himself "institutionalized."
Not until two weeks ago in the chow hall.
There was a roach in Paey's oatmeal. His fellow inmates just shrugged.
Gulp it down, they told him. And he did.
"They began saying, 'Just eat it, at least we know it's fresh,'" Paey said. "Afterward I began to think, I wasn't being funny ...
"It's like an apathy, like you don't care."
Disabled, suffering from failed surgeries and multiple sclerosis, Paey lives with chronic, intense pain. But it was prison, he said, that really took a toll on him.
That all changed in a whirlwind Thursday.
That morning, Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Cabinet stunned Paey and his family with a full pardon for his 2004 conviction and 25-year prison sentence for trafficking in his own painkilling drugs.
By evening, prison officials had delivered Paey back home. His 10-year battle against a criminal justice system his supporters say punishes chronic pain patients was finally, abruptly, over.
"Today is the day I restart my life," he said Thursday.
Actually, no. That day was Friday.
Sat, 22 Sep 2007
St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright: 2007 St. Petersburg Times
Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/
Website: http://www.sptimes.com/home.shtml
Webpage: http://www.sptimes.com/2007/09/22/Pasco/Paey_starts_afresh_wi.shtml
HUDSON - Tomoka Correctional Institution was his fourth prison in nearly four years. But Richard Paey never considered himself "institutionalized."
Not until two weeks ago in the chow hall.
There was a roach in Paey's oatmeal. His fellow inmates just shrugged.
Gulp it down, they told him. And he did.
"They began saying, 'Just eat it, at least we know it's fresh,'" Paey said. "Afterward I began to think, I wasn't being funny ...
"It's like an apathy, like you don't care."
Disabled, suffering from failed surgeries and multiple sclerosis, Paey lives with chronic, intense pain. But it was prison, he said, that really took a toll on him.
That all changed in a whirlwind Thursday.
That morning, Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Cabinet stunned Paey and his family with a full pardon for his 2004 conviction and 25-year prison sentence for trafficking in his own painkilling drugs.
By evening, prison officials had delivered Paey back home. His 10-year battle against a criminal justice system his supporters say punishes chronic pain patients was finally, abruptly, over.
"Today is the day I restart my life," he said Thursday.
Actually, no. That day was Friday.
Sat, 22 Sep 2007
St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright: 2007 St. Petersburg Times
Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/
Website: http://www.sptimes.com/home.shtml
Webpage: http://www.sptimes.com/2007/09/22/Pasco/Paey_starts_afresh_wi.shtml