The 6-foot-5 doctor convicted in Michael Jackson’s death says his cramped jail cell is killing him, and his lawyers want action — stat!
Dr. Conrad Murray lives in a 5-by-7-foot cell with two hours of exercise in a rooftop “cage” each Monday, the lawyers said in a pointed letter mailed to Los Angeles County jail officials Wednesday. Murray is serving a four-year term in the singer’s 2009 death.
“He’s being housed like a piece of veal,” lawyer Michael Flanagan told the Daily News. “He can’t even do jumping jacks in his cell. The bed takes up three feet, and there’s a toilet in there too. It’s awful what they’re doing to him.”
Flanagan said Murray was rushed to the hospital this week fearing he might die from blood clots in his legs.
“He’s not dying in jail,” sheriff’s department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said. “People over at the jail did speak with him today, and he’s alive and receiving proper medical treatment. He’s receiving really good treatment in fact. He has some issues and concerns, and we’re working with him.”
She said Murray is in a standard-sized cell and that other inmates are even larger than he is.
“We do understand he has concerns, and we are listening to him,” she said.
The legal letter claims Murray is suffering dangerously slow blood flow in his lower extremities along with right shoulder pain and loss of mobility. The lawyers wrote that the symptoms put him at high risk of deep vein thrombosis, which could lead to permanent damage or even death.
“Anybody who watched the (involuntary manslaughter) trial that ended almost a year ago, they wouldn’t recognize him walking on the street today,” Flanagan said. “His hair has turned gray. He’s down 20 or 30 pounds. He’s very gaunt-looking and has a hard time walking.”
The letter makes note of Murray’s high-profile status and acknowledges the need to keep him segregated from the jail’s general population. But it claims his current isolation might be an even less-desirable alternative.
“Death or injury at the hands of another prisoner … is no worse than a slow death caused by a loss of circulation and atrophy resulting from inhumane confinement of a large man in a tiny space,” the letter states.
The letter stops short of making specific demands about where exactly Murray should be moved, but one option is monitored home confinement, Flanagan said.
“If you put your puppy in the box you take to the vet and then left him in that box for a year or two years, what kind of condition would he be in?” he asked. “What kind of animal are you going to have coming out of there?”
ndillon@nydailynews.com
