Tucson, Ariz.- At about 7 p.m. Thursday, Edgar Vega, 16, collapsed in the kitchen of the minor’s unit at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson.
Correctional officers immediately responded and began CPR on Vega, who was unresponsive. Vega was taken to Kino Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Vega showed no obvious signs of trauma and an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.
Vega was convicted of aggravated assault for a May 2008 incident and sentenced to 5 years. He came to the Department of Corrections in March.
Vega’s next of kin was notified Thursday night.
(Posted to the ADC Website today)
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Postscript: This kid - convicted and sentenced when he was just fifteen - died far from his family in a juvenile section of an American adult prison. He was convicted of aggravated assault (for which we have no details), and instead of deporting him, a Maricopa county judge decided to incarcerate him for five years in Arizona (at a cost of $55-60/day).
One way or another we're going to spend money on undocumented youth so long as their economy is destroyed and our employers seek to exploit their cheap labor. Is this really what we want to be spending our "immigration" money on? Incarcerating undocumented youth instead of educating them?Chances are, had he finished high school (instead of been compelled to live undocumented underground, so to speak), he never would have ended up in prison.
PASS THE DREAM ACT. Give youth like him HOPE enough to finish high school and shoot for college - instead of for some cops' head.
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