Quadriplegic Rapist Denied Parole

A convicted rapist paralyzed from the neck down after he was stabbed by another inmate a decade ago has been denied parole in California. Steven Martinez was the first inmate to be considered for medical parole under a new state law aimed at saving the expense of providing medical care to incapacitated inmates, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Martinez is serving a 157 years for numerous felonies in connection with the beating and rape of a woman in 1998.

The parole board noted that Martinez had threatened nurses and other female staffers multiple times. "This panel finds that he is a violent person who can use other people to carry out threats and would be a public safety threat to those attending to him outside prison walls," said the board commissioner. Martinez's medical care costs California taxpayers an estimated $625,000 a year, and he is required to be kept under guard despite his condition. (More quadriplegic stories.)