A young girl is dying from terminal brain cancer. Her dying wish is to have her father by her side. Her father is in prison for a drug conviction (methamphetamine charges) in a minimum security prison camp in South Dakota, three and a half hours from his daughter. He is due to be released in less than 6 months but that would be too late. He asked to have a supervised release for 30 days so he can be by her side in her last days. His request has been repeatedly denied.
What is your opinion? Would you permit the father to be with his dying daughter?
Child’s Dying Wish Going Unfulfilled
The Heartbreaking Story of a Young Cancer Patient and Her Incarcerated Father
By CHRIS FRANCESCANI
ABC News Law & Justice Unit
March 20, 2008 —
For very sick little girls, sometimes a father can be the best medicine there is.
But the heartbroken family of a 10-year-old Nebraska girl diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, who is not expected to live through the end of the month, say the Federal Bureau of Prisons has denied the child’s dying wish: that her incarcerated father be furloughed to be by his child’s bedside when she dies.
Jason Charles Yaeger is serving the final year of a five-year sentence for a drug conviction in a minimum security prison camp in South Dakota, three and a half hours from his daughter, Jayci.
He has pleaded repeatedly with prison officials to honor the bureau’s apparent policy of allowing furloughs and transfers under “extraordinary” circumstances, but has been rebuffed time and again, he told ABC News in a telephone interview from prison today. He is scheduled to be transferred in August to a halfway house just an hour from his daughter’s bedside, but prison officials have refused to transfer him early, he said.
Here is the full story.
“It’s really hard to say it, but it’s time now and she doesn’t need to suffer anymore. She needs to be where she can be peaceful and happy and not in pain,” Yaeger said.
There’s one more thing Yaeger said her daughter needs — her father, Jason. But he’s in federal prison in South Dakota and has been denied repeated attempts to grant him a 30-day release. Yaeger was convicted of methamphetamine charges nearly five years ago.
Here is another version.
The experience a man gains from being with a dying daughter could do far more to healing than what he would get out of being in prison. Sentencing a person for crimes commited is essentially to provide a time for healing and correction. Judges and authorities need to use innovative methods and in my opinion this could be a great opportunity. In addition the little girl gets to be near her father for the last few days of her life. A humane approach to punishment!!
This is absurd. He should be allowed to have a 30-day leave. It’s the human thing to do.
The prison officials that denied this poor girls request are nothing but God Damned Bastards. Forgive my language.
The jail officials will have a special place in hell waiting for them.
Denying a father the right to care for her daughter on her last days is cruel. But denying a child the right to be cared for by her father on her last moments is just plain sadist.
I wish Jason the strength to overcome the difficult times to come. And hope that the Governor will put some sense in this matter before is too late.
How about the US government denying me a visa to be with my dying twin sister in hospital in the US, even though my visa only just expired after I had been in the US for four years?
He was dealing Meth when and after his daughter became ill.
Sure he’s a monster for that, but I agree with the other posters, sure, let’s let him out of prison, I think he should get a new caddy too, maybe a new suit, and the pope should show up to welcome him in the doors.
Have you ever seen the effects of meth?!
Out of touch doesn’t come close!
“Sure he’s a monster for that, but I agree with the other posters, sure, let’s let him out of prison, I think he should get a new caddy too, maybe a new suit, and the pope should show up to welcome him in the doors.”
Asking for a new suit is just taking this too far! However, the other requests seem reasonable enough. Also, you left out a guest appearance on “Survivor” and a lifetime supply of Rice-A-Roni, the San Fransisco treat.
Meth is not good for anyone.
Pass it on.
Are you kidding?
The sale of Meth is manslaughter.
Ok, though you feel meth is no worse than a glass of wine, when your kid shows up with a dissolved brain, pinched sores on their face, violent beyond reason, irrational and completely uninterested in life, you can just say??
Oh, it’s a phase, I smoked a joint in college.
OMG, please, stay on the poor side of town, we don’t need you.
Ok, let’s put this into perspective.
The most infamous meth addict of all time was Herr Hitler.
(If you were not aware of this, it’s historical fact, checkout the History channel for reference)
Anyone who knows the plight of the Polgars, then excuses such actions….
I’d fry the dad first.
At least one retired prison guard has offered to supervise Mr. Yeager at no cost to the taxpayers and then return him to the prison.
Well, sure, no surprise here, people start arguing that the father sold meth, a merciless drug, so why should he receive any mercy and be allowed to be with his daughter in her final moments? I find it terribly sad how little relevance the little girl’s feelings seem to have for these people. It’s about her, not about her father.
does anyone realize that the father has even agreed to double his sentence just to spend some moments with his daughter? Yes he made a mistake but he’s about to finish paying for that! Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan were out within hours and they put others in danger as well..this is a DYING little girl’s last wish.. THINK PEOPLE!!! have a heart!!!
OK, you have a good point. I teach my children that “It is better to be kind than right”
For the sake of the little girl, I would do just about anything.
Maybe the debate we are having is less about him than her.
I stand corrected.
Considering the strong feelings of the issue of the Father’s actions, maybe we should be looking at the problem of this gruesome drug outside the context of that little Angels request..
Thank you for showing me what I could not see before.
“This is absurd. He should be allowed to have a 30-day leave. It’s the human thing to do.”
What’s absurd is asking the public’s opinion. The public will ALWAYS take the most sentimental course whether it’s right or wrong (cause if it’s wrong, they don’t have to suffer).
Your position is ridiculous. Even if you think he should get a leave, you can’t quantify it and say a 30 day leave is human but a 20 day or a 15 day leave isn’t. That’s totally arbitrary. Someone else made up a number, you swallowed it without question.
The story tells us nothing about the conditions under which such leaves are normally granted or denied, so we don’t have the facts to judge it.
There are consequences to one’s actions & behavior. This man was making and distributing one of the most dangerous drugs available, one that’s ruined thousands of lives, yet he wants mercy so he can visit his child. What about the children of others who’ve had their lives ruined by meth? Did he have mercy on them & their families when he was selling them drugs?
If you commit a serious crime, you spend time in prison and miss holidays, seeing your children grow up, etc. That’s part of your punishment! It’s one of the consequences of making poor decisions and engaging in criminal behavior.
In this case though, I’d allow him to visit the daughter, but only for HER sake, not his, then take him up on his offer to have his sentence doubled in exchange for being allowed to visit his dying child.
Who put this scumbag drug dealer in this position? Did the prison officials make him sell drugs and poison other people’s lives, or did he do this to himself? I hate it for the little girl who’s dying, but her father chose to engage in criminal acts that ruin other people’s lives and now he’s finding the consequences a bitter pill to swallow. Sorry, he brought this on himself. I too would let him see his daughter (for her sake, since she’s innocent), but I’d double his sentence as payment for getting to do so.
I agree that he is a criminal, but those people whos life were ruined because of meth also had a choice. This drug dealer didnt ruin their lives, they do that on their own, THEY are the ones not thinking of their own families, so the blame isnt just one persons, its on several people. Meth addicts are just that ADDICTS! We all have a choice, we are not forced to do anything we dont wish to do! We are in america the nastiest country on earth, besides Amsterdam.
It is true though, if this man was a celebrity he would of been out a LONG time ago, for absurd reasons!!
This story is rather misleading and has duped several people. First, the prison HAS allowed this father to visit his dying daughter four times, including three visits just in the past month while escorted by prison guards. What hasn’t happened is his sentence being commuted or terminated early. The Bureau of Prisons and the prison warden DO NOT have that authority.
In fact, Fox News and several other organizations helped arrange the 4th (and probably final) visit just yesterday by this father to his dying daughter.
Unfortunately, the driving force behind this entire story was a group that opposes US drug laws and prison sentences for drug dealers & users. They’ve played on the sympthy we all naturally feel for this little girl and grossly distorted the facts in an attempt to smear the prison, its warden, and US drug laws for being “mean & heartless” and keeping the father from his dying daughter, when in fact, prison officials have allowed him to visit her 4 times recently.
Look at all the “how cruel, heartless & inhumane” type comments posted by several readers before they knew the entire story. How many of you bothered to Google this story and actually get all the facts before jumping to conclusions and assuming the prison warden and the US were being heartless & inhumane? Guess who those that promoted this grossly misleading version of the story to further their agenda of reducing drug charges & sentences were trying to dupe into being “useful idiots”? Please take the time to get all the facts before jumping to conclusions and making judgments.
I am sure you will feel the same way once Hillary is in Office.