From The Marshall Project:
When I met Ralph Marcus in June 2024 at California Medical Facility, he was sitting in his wheelchair in the garden, under the shade of a gazebo. This medium security prison in Vacaville is home to a 17-bed hospice unit, the only licensed hospice program for incarcerated people in the state.
Marcus looked thin, his gray hair covered by a sweat-stained ball cap. He wore blue fingerless wheelchair gloves on each of his hands and a black flip-flop on his right foot. What remained of his left leg was covered by gray shorts.
At the time, Marcus had been incarcerated for 27 years. In 2022, he was diagnosed with spindle cell sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. After an injury, spindle cell production is typically a helpful part of the body’s healing process. However, once the injury is healed, if spindle cells continue to divide uncontrollably, a mass or tumor develops. Continue reading
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