THE QUALITY OF MERCY
Saturday, October 12, 2002
Union CI
Today I was told about a very sick situation concerning a prisoner who was named Peter Louis Ruggirello by his mother, but who, since the tender age of twenty-three, has gone by the FDOC number 101037.Peter has one crime on his record... Someone died because of him. I don't yet know the full story behind that fateful March day seventeen years ago. It doesn't really matter. It could have been an accident that Peter regretted the instant it happened. Perhaps he made a really stupid choice that cost someone their life. Maybe it was even a cold-blooded, premeditated murder... maybe a terribly hard-hearted, merciless young Peter strangled his victim with his bare hands.
However it happened, any of these scenarios makes Peter a murderer, an outcast, to be locked away from society forever in the worst place possible for the safety of all the people who consider themselves better than he because they have taken no life... at least directly.
Not many of us want to know what happened. We do not care to understand Peter's mind at the moment his victim died nor do we want to know his heart now nor his spirit in the next world. All that interests us is that one life ended because of him and we want no more to do with him... He deserves whatever he gets.
Mercy. "Refraining from harming offenders or enemies. A disposition to forgive. The power to forgive... a blessing."
It's a funny thing, that word. Mercy. Mercy, for the offender is, I'm sure, a blessing to the offender.
The part about Power, though, that's interesting. Mercy is the POWER, not the weakness. The Power of Mercy belongs, not to the offender, but to us.
Our Power to bestow Mercy symbolizes the dramatic difference between ourselves and the murderer. But mostly the difference just isn't there: We don't refrain from harm and we don't forgive.
You should know how Peter is doing. How do you know he's living the life you want him to live if you don't know the life he's living?
Peter had surgery a few years ago. He had tubes put inside his body and and a colostomy bag hangs from his side. His body is now rejecting those tubes and trying to force them out of his body. They are protruding from his skin. On his side, meat is bulging out under and around the bag. He is in a great deal of pain, the staff is neglecting his need for care and pain medication, the prisoners around him are sickened by his condition, and it will only get worse.
Peter's condition is critical. He has no family. He only has us, the wheat and the chaff... The merciful and the merciless. If we have no desire to show him mercy, what is the difference between us and him?
PETER'S ADDRESS IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEND HIM A CARD:
Peter Ruggirello
102037
Union CI
7819 N.W. 228th Street
Raiford, Florida 32026-4000
Mon, 21 Oct 2002Kay,
Hey I was looking at union site that you have up, which I always look over them, and I ran across Ruggirello. Kay this is the guy that my loved one knows, this is the guy that I was talking about with the tubes bulging out of his stomach. I seen him. I know who he is! Kay, his stuff looks sick: there is puss that is coming out, and this is not good cause what if an infection starts? Then the whole compound could get sick! Think about it - staff infection. Kay, what else can we do to help him? He is in a lot of pain, and he wants other inmates to pull this tube out, I told my loved one not to touch him. I told him that I would see what I could do out here. He needs help.. let me know if there is anything that we can do.Thanks STINGETT
Wed, 23 Oct 2002
UNION INMATE (PETER) NO MEDICAL ATTENTION
I have never been the individual to express myself well in correspondence. I am more of a face to face type of person and even then some people do not understand me. Maybe the prolonged years behind bars have made me stir crazy and institutionalized. Please try to bare with me in the composition of this letter. I will do my best to make it brief and to the point. Before I begin I would like to thank you for your concern and kindness. I am profoundly grateful.
I could not burden my so called family with my troubles, not that they would care anyway. I have severed a lot of them ties that bind for a lot of reasons, mostly because I did not wish to burden them with the long haul of a sentence like mine. Secondly it is Christ who leads and directs my paths now.
Now I will begin. Approximately 13 years ago, I had a 800 AMS urinary prosthesis put in me. 12 years later my body started to reject it.I first noticed [the rejection] in March of 2001. I noticed a discoloration of my right scrotal sac and was having pain. I went to see the institution doctor and in turn he referred me to a urologist. I was sent to a urologist at the prison medical reception center N.F.R.C [aka Butler CI]. He examined me and told me my body was rejecting the device and I needed surgery right away or it would end up popping through the scrotal sac on its own. He prescribed me some antibiotics and some pain meds and I was sent back to U.C.I to await further notice. (I never received the pain meds the urologist ordered.)
I of course was going crazy hoping this device would not just pop out before I was operated on. We were waiting on approval from the proper authorities to have the surgery.
Well, two days after I returned to UCI from the day visit to the urologist, it happened!!! I was at the movement center giving an orientation speech to the new convicts, as I represent the chapel dept. On the way back from the chapel, I was walking down old Rock Road and I had a pain so severe, I saw complete blackness.I stepped dead in my tracks caught my breath and looked around to see if anyone saw me acting peculiar. I asked my Lord to have mercy upon me and strengthen me. As I regained my composure I went on to the chapel and around towards the back, I had another excruciating pain, so I sat sown on the steps and prayed till I regained myself. Then I went to the bathroom and when I did I found the problem. The device was hanging out of my scrotum about 3 to 4 inches.
You talk about traumatized in shock. I was on the brink of complete insanity. I immediately got to my boss, Chaplain Joe Henkle, and showed him. He went ballistic and started hollering, "Get the stretcher, get a wheel chair, get to medical!" Instead, two of my co-workers and brothers in Christ assisted me to reach the medical dept.Upon my arrival there I was examined by RN Ryder. She called for a doctor to come down to see me and doctor DOUNG came and examined me and gave me a pain shot. Then I was told to go back to my dorm!!! That really shocked me, here I am with a hole in my scrotum and some crazy contraption hanging out and swinging from side to side as I walk and they tell me to go back to my dorm which is a least a quarter of a mile walk. I did as ordered and hobbled down the steps and was walking down the road trying to keep my legs separated so the device would not hit either one, as when it did, it shook me from head to toe with pain.
I got as far as gate 3 and decided I could not make it the rest of the way, so I stopped at the chapel where I work. My bosses were amazed to see me back so quickly. I told them of the situation and the senior chaplain ordered me to my desk, only I was told not to move, just to do paperwork "according to your abilities". I did what I could, which I am certain was a lot more then he expected.Come 4pm, when it was time to go in, he said, "Pete, do you think you can make it back to medical?" And I asked why? He said he made some calls and they wanted to see me.
So I hobbled back over there and the director of nurses, RN Dewoody, was waiting by the backdoor for me. She said she needed to examine me and we went inside, I showed her the problem and she told me to wait as she would be back. When she came back she told me I would be having an operation soon, I asked how soon, as this thing is killing me and I was concern about it becoming infected in the dirty unsanitary dorms. She informed me she could not tell me when, as it would be a 'breech of security'. She told me I would know I was going when they told me not to eat or drink nothing after midnight. So I was hoping they would tell me that just 8 hours from now.
I saw relief coming - or hoped it was near. I asked her if I could have something for pain and she said all I could have was ibuprofen until after surgery. I asked her how could I trust her and the medical staff to manage my pain after they cut me open if they won't manage my pain now. I told her I have lost complete confidence in the UCI med staff to treat me accordingly and professionally.
I left and hobbled down the road back to the SWV population. I stopped by the A area clinic and med window and asked the nurse for some gauze, some Betadine, some alcohol and tape, and went to my dorm. I laid in my bed all night waiting for them to tell me not to eat or drink after midnight. Well, at 1am they had still told me nothing. I laid there in severe pain wondering if I could get through till another midnight or even another morning.I know this may sound insane, and people tend to do strange things and act irrational when they are in pain. I got out of the bed and got me some Betadine and some gauze and some alcohol and cleaned the hole and surrounding area, being careful not to jar the device as when it moved it hurt beyond compare. After I cleaned the area I burned a razor blade and swabbed it with Betadine first then alcohol.
Then I grabbed hold of the device, which was dangling about 3 to 4 inches out of my sac. I grabbed it to steady it and I cut it loose from the main piece which was still in me. I then cleaned and bandaged the wound and tried to get some sleep.The next day I still felt bad but not as nearly as bad as I did when the device was swinging and bouncing. I changed the bandage when I came in for lunch break and noticed the hole had closed up and was healing quickly.
Days passed and I was never called to surgery. When I asked why, they said I had refused! I did not refuse! All I said to them people was that I had lost confidence in their ability to treat me accordingly and professionally.
And I did show them the area the next morning after I removed the piece. There was no way I could deal with the pain and worry of infection of a wide open hole. I did what I had to do. Some may call it manipulation, I call it self preservation.Now again my body was pushing another piece to the surface so the doctors here referred me again to the urologist at the prison medical center in Lake Butler for a day visit. When we got there, I was told they refused to see me 4 times, and each time I am refused I don't even make it in the office.
I currently have 2 open wounds, now at the front waistline, that are oozing infection. Pieces from the device have come out of these sites and I believe more are attempting to come to the surface there. I am very concerned as to this infection, this may possibly turn to gangrene or perontinitus and poison my entire system. I am afraid to think of what damage it has done internally to me already.
Only with and through the grace, mercy, and compassion of my Lord am I able to endure each day on the battlefield. It is his will alone. I hope this letter has been informative and helps.
Again I am profoundly grateful
Respectfully
Peter Ruggirello
If you do own the power of mercy, I want to urge you to contact the following people on Peter's behalf.
FDOC INSPECTOR GENERAL Fred Schuknecht
Schuknecht.fred@mail.dc.state.fl.usFDOC SECRETARY Michael Moore
moore.michael@mail.dc.state.fl.us
Florida Department of Corrections
2601 Blair Stone Road
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
(850) 488-9859
FAX: (850) 922-4178FDOC INMATE MEDICAL ISSUES
faq.health@mail.dc.state.fl.usUNION CI WARDEN Paul Decker
unionci@mail.dc.state.fl.us
7819 N.W. 228th Street
Raiford, Florida 32026-4000
(386) 431-2000
FAX: (386) 431-2016
UNION CI Chaplain's Office
(386) 431-2000REGION II DIRECTOR James Crosby
crosby.james@mail.dc.state.fl.us
P. O. Box 718
Lake Butler, Florida 32054-0628
(386) 496-6700
FAX: (386) 496-6716FDOC DEPUTY SECRETARY Richard Dugger
dugger.richard@mail.dc.state.fl.usFL INSPECTOR GEN. Marsha Cooke
Fl_govig@eog.state.fl.us
850 / 922-4637
850 / 921-0817 (fax)FDOC Public Safety and Humane Systems
co.corrections@mail.dc.state.fl.usFDOC MEDICAL Dixie Parker
parker.dixie@MAIL.DC.STATE.FL.USFL GOV. Jeb Bush
jebbush@jeb.org
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Fax:(904)488-9578
Tel:(904)488-4441 11/98
Additional emails:
fl_governor@eog.state.fl.us
Jeb@Jeb.org
fl_governor@myflorida.com
(This information was current as of 10/13/02)
DC Number: 102037 Name: RUGGIRELLO, PETER L Race: WHITE Sex: MALE Hair Color: BLACK Eye Color: BLUE Height: 5'07'' Weight: 166 Birth Date: 09/02/1963 Initial Receipt Date: 04/15/1986 Current Facility: UNION C. I. Current Classification Status: NOT APPLICABLE Current Custody: CLOSE Current Release Date: SENTENCED TO LIFE
Current Prison Sentence History: Offense Date Offense Sentence Date County Case No. Prison Sentence Length 03/10/1985 1ST DG MUR/PREMED. OR ATT. 04/08/1986 BROWARD 8504524 SENTENCED TO LIFE
I have to share this with everyone. A couple of months ago while I was visiting my loved one in prison he was telling me about an inmate that is in his dorm that had medical problems and this inmate had no family members out here in society that he could turn to. This inmate has major medical issues.
I contacted Kaylee, and she put his story on MTWT. Peter Ruggirello, THE QUALITY OF MERCY, Union CI, Butler CI, Florida, prison, medical, DOC, Jeb Bush, Michael Moore and I'm pleased to say that someone read his story and he is now getting letters from the outside. And He may be getting some help. My loved one called me tonight and was telling me that Peter said thank you.
They asked me did I know who it was that was sending Peter mail. I have no clue who it is. But like I told them tonight there is people out here that do care about what is going on inside the walls. And society is getting tired of it. So again I have to thank each and everyone that is helping Florida Inmates. Along with all the inmates in the united states. Not just Florida, Even though I'm here in Florida and it's so hard to keep up with just our inmates, I'm sure that there is problems all over the united states when it comes to the prison system. Again thanks to whom ever it is that is helping Peter.
STINGER & STINGETT
Stingett8@cs.com
