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Judge Cites Poor Care In Ordering Release Of Inmate With Cancer

WFDD file photo

A Surry County woman will soon be granted an early release from federal prison. A judge ordered Angela Beck's release because of her breast cancer and the poor medical care she received during her imprisonment.

Judge Catherine Eagles of the U.S. District Court said in her order that Beck's invasive cancer and the “abysmal health care” provided by the Bureau of Prisons qualify as “extraordinary and compelling reasons” to grant a reduction in her sentence to time served.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports that Beck will be placed on supervised probation for five years following her release.

Beck, who is 47, has served close to six years of a 14-year sentence in Aliceville, Alabama, for drug and firearms offenses.

Beck had filed a federal lawsuit saying the prison waited over eight months for a biopsy after she found a lump in her breast in August of 2017.  It took another two months to schedule surgery.

Prison officials have not specifically denied the allegations or given a reason for the delay in providing health care.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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