The prison system in the United States is as flawed as the prison systems in most third world countries. We are frustrated and saddened by reports of severe overcrowding and staff misconduct. However, as rampant as those abuses have become, they pale in comparison to the lack of compassion shown by the warden of the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton, South Dakota.
Jason Yaeger is one of 837 convicts currently serving time at the Yankton prison. Jason has nearly a year left to serve on a 5½-year sentence for a methamphetamine conviction, and prison officials plan to release him to a halfway house in August. Jason's case differs little from the cases of other inmates serving time at the minimum-security facility. However, unlike most other inmates, Jason's daughter, 10-year-old Jayci Yaeger, is dying of brain cancer and is not expected to live long enough to see her father be released from prison. Jayci's health is rapidly declining and her doctors say that nothing can be done to save her.
It is truly heartbreaking when a child falls ill with a terminal illness, but it is even more distressing when that child is denied her dying wish. In Jayci's case, her wish is to have her father by her side, holding her as she passes from this life to the next. Although this request seems simple enough, Warden J. D. Whitehead does not see fit to grant her final wish, and has denied repeated requests by her father for an early release to a halfway house.
In a statement to the press released on Thursday, a Yankton prison spokesperson said: "Bureau of Prisons officials have reviewed Inmate Yaeger’s request for a compassionate release and have determined his situation does not meet the criteria … Our agency's mission is to protect society by confining offenders in controlled environments of prisons and community based facilities which are safe, humane, and appropriately secure."
"I am sorry for what I have done,'' Jason said in a interview with ABCnews.com. "I'm not asking to get out of my sentence — just to go from one place of imprisonment to another so I can be with my family. Jayci is sitting in a hospice fighting for her life and [her mother] thinks she is holding on for me to get there. She wants me and needs me and I want to be there with her on her last day."
