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the doctor, who did not examine her or speak to her. She was dead two days later. The State Board of Nursing cited 7 nurses for wrongdoing in the case, revoking or suspending their licenses or putting them on probation. The treating doctor was put on four years probation by the state medical licensing board.

Henry Simmons Jr. died of a heart attack in a Virginia prison when a doctor's orders for tests were ignored.

Eloy Triana, 49 Central New Mexico Correctional Facility, visited the infirmary several times before his death, complaining of chest pain. On his last infirmary visit, he complained of chest pain and was told to fill out a sick call slip and return to his cell. He collapsed 40 minutes later and died of a heart attack.

As we can readily see, each of the above offenders had serious, life-threatening medical conditions for which they were not released from incarceration. None of them had been handed a sentence of death, yet they died, anyway. The safe bet would be that none were from ranks of the wealthy and privileged. Certainly, we have an obligation as a "civilized" society to treat criminal inmates humanely and to attend to their medical needs; we, as a society, undertake that responsibility when we put them away. How many others have there been?

Miss Hilton was treated humanely and, as we have already seen, treated preferentially even before she darkened a jailhouse door. She was housed in a special section of the jailed reserved for police officers and other high-profile inmates. She did not even have a cellmate. She was offered food three times daily and received personal time to watch television and even talk on the phone with family and friends. From what I was able to glean from television broadcast, her immediate surroundings were clean and tidy, if not comfortable nor luxurious by the lofty standards of Hilton Hotels.

Several weeks into her incarceration, Paris Hilton is having an epiphany of sorts behind bars. She told Ryan Seacrest in a telephone interview that she is now "grateful" for what she has. She did add the idea that she is "not a criminal." Yes, she is. Drunk drivers pose perhaps the greatest statistical death threat to the American public, with DUI-related deaths numbering in the tens of thousands each year. Getting behind the wheel drunk is tantamount to holding a loaded gun to the heads of everyone she passes on the road. That is a crime. Period.

Thus, Rev. Sharpton and I have at long last come to a meeting of the minds.

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