HANDICAPPED WOMAN CENTER OF PRISON FLAP

Sentence Questioned

The first time she was caught selling marijuana, Deborah Quinn got
probation.

When she violated probation by being caught again with pot, Mohave
County prosecutors sent her to prison.

But Arizona's prison director doesn't want Deborah Lynn
Quinn.

That is, Corrections Director Terry Stewart doesn't want to pay for
her.

Quinn, 39, was born with no arms and only one leg. She can get around
in a wheelchair but otherwise needs constant care.

Still, the Kingman woman recently was sentenced to prison by Judge
Richard Weiss of Mohave County Superior Court for violating an October
1999 sentence of probation.

Quinn was on probation for selling 3.98 grams of marijuana for $20 to
a police informer. Then, in December, a probation officer found
marijuana in her home.

Stewart said sending Quinn to prison is "an incredibly expensive way
to deal with a person who ought to be handled in some other way."

Because Quinn needs 24-hour care, she is in a detention wing of St.
Mary's Hospital in Tucson. The cost: $345 a day.

The cost to house most prisoners: $52 a day.

"We're spending about $126,000 a year to keep this woman in prison,"
Stewart said. "For that, I could assign her parole officers 24 hours a
day and have her stay at home."

But an assistant in the Mohave County Attorney's Office
disagrees.

"Handicapped or not, she was dealing drugs, and our society condemns
drugs," Jace Zack said. "If she continues to deal drugs, the only way
to deter her is incarcerate her."

Zack was not impressed by suggestions that Quinn be placed on home
arrest.

"She was caught dealing drugs out of her home twice that we know of,"
he said. "It's ludicrous to put her on house arrest."

Quinn is not giving interviews. According to court documents, she told
her probation officer, "I know what I did was wrong," after her second
arrest.

The officer, Rod Marquardt, recommended a minimum term of
incarceration, even though he wrote, "This officer empathizes with
(Quinn) due to her handicap and understands that she will suffer the
effects of incarceration 10 times worse than an average person."

Quinn made a deal with prosecutors that sent her to prison for not
more than 1.5 years for violating parole.

Court records show Quinn's 5-year-old son is being cared for by a
friend.

Quinn's birth defect left her with only a partial left leg, which she
uses to operate a battery-powered wheelchair. She requires 24-hour
care for feeding, bathing and hygiene, officials said.

Stewart said he's determining whether he can legally put Quinn on
medical furlough in a residential setting. He said the prison system
has no secure facilities for disabled females.

"Is it acceptable to keep her under segregated conditions in a male
ward? I don't think so," he said.

"Is the cost of caring for her simply too much? Obviously."