Lawyer of inmate who died in Maine prison knew his client received life sentence

Posted Nov. 17, 2011, at 3:30 p.m.
Last modified Nov. 17, 2011, at 7:11 p.m.
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Mary Hoskins
Mary Hoskins

WARREN, Maine — Before Mary Hoskins stepped into prison to begin serving two years for arson, her attorney knew it was a life sentence because she had terminal cancer. Mary Hoskins, 50, died Thursday, exactly one week after she entered the Maine Correctional Center’s Women’s Center in Windham.

Hoskins died of natural causes and her death was reported to the state medical examiner, according to the Maine Department of Corrections.

According to Scott Burnheimer, superintendent of the Maine Correctional Center, Hoskins was sent to his prison on Thursday, Nov. 10. By Wednesday, Nov. 16, she had become ill and Burnheimer’s staff sent her to the infirmary at Maine State Prison in Warren. She died early the next morning.

Hoskins had just begun serving two years for arson in connection with a fire that was set in September 2008 at the North Anson mobile home of her son Neal Hoskins, with whom she was living at the time. Police accused the two of setting the fire to collect insurance money. Neal Hoskins pleaded guilty two months ago to the 2008 fire and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but two years suspended and four years of probation.

Mary Hoskins, who also had been found guilty of arson for a 1998 fire at her home in Salem, Mass., was convicted for the 2008 fire and sentenced to eight years with all but two years suspended. She started serving her sentence on Nov. 10.

During a hearing on the 2008 arson charge in October in Somerset County Superior, Mary Hoskin’s lawyer Andrew Ketterer told the judge that Hoskins was in the terminal stages of ovarian cancer and only had six to 12 months to live. Holding in her in custody would be a life sentence for her, he argued.

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  • Anonymous

    RIP lost soul.

  • Anonymous

    My sympathy to her family may God give you peace in your time of sorrow. 

  • honey777

    Let’s hope the true cause of death wasn’t due to poor medical care at the prison.

  • DonHorchKingofMen

    They have women there? This just happened last summer,she was already in prison???wtf????

  • Anonymous

    They don’t deserve the best, but you know what they do deserve to have decent medical care…don’t be a jerk

  • Anonymous

    if a “female” was at the Maine State Prison for men than she was housed in the infirmary.  She must have had health issues not reported in this story.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Davida-Willette/100000655412147 Davida Willette

    you know the health care should be investigated too many inmates have died in maine prisions in the past year 

  • Anonymous

    weird that the BDN would report the story in this manner.   last month they report “Hoskins has ovarian cancer, holding her in jail certainly amounts to a life sentence for her.  Ketterer told the judge that Hoskins is in the final terminal stages of cancer.   I did submit a letter [to the court] from a treating physician, who indicated that Mary probably has six to maybe 12 months left to live”.   “found dead”??  more accurtely it should say ”circums to death”.  geez – terrible reporting!!!   http://bangordailynews.com/2011/10/04/news/mid-maine/woman-charged-in-north-anson-arson-appears-in-court/

  • Anonymous

    We ALL deserve to have decent medical care.

  • Anonymous

    She had terminal cancer…..I am certain it had nothing to do with poor health care.

  • Anonymous

    Thoughts and prayers go out to the family. She is in a better place now, no more suffering.

  • honey777

    Nobody deserves a death sentence for an arson charge.

  • Anonymous

    Arson should carry the same penalties as attempted murder.

  • PaulNotBunyan

    This appears to be a case of her and her son burning a mobile home that was insured in his name. It’s attempted insurance fraud, not attempted murder. There have been cases where landlords torched their rental properties to bilk the insurer and tenants got hurt or killed. They usually face more serious charges in addition to arson charges.

  • Anonymous

    Justice Served ? What a waste in any context you want to put it in If she is on her way out why bother

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Davida-Willette/100000655412147 Davida Willette

    one thing they new she was terminal. they could have sentenced her to house arrest in a hospice center . i am sure she was already too sick to be any harm to anyone 

  • Anonymous

    in response to a post here she didn’t get a death sentence for arson. she was given a prison sentence for that. cancer gave her the death sentence. having said that, i DO feel she needed a hospital not a cell and obviously had her heath been better then some counseling for her attraction to fire. sympathy is most definately extended to her family…

  • Anonymous

    So much so that prisoners serving life sentences have received organ transplants.

  • Buzlno

    It was the CANCER that killed her, not the 1 week in the slammer!

  • Anonymous

    So you are saying that if I am dying, I can go out and burn down your house and nothing should be done?, She was found guilty and was sent to prison,  just like the rest of the people who break the law! The fact that she had cancer is just to bad, had nothing to do with the crime!

  • http://twitter.com/TheGuardianMH The Guardian

    They put her in prison for this knowing she had cancer but let the sex offenders back out on the streets. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_G6OSP5KK3OHTEHY3VYXONGPUIM MiaH

    You cant blame the prison system for her death, she chose to burn down 2 homes…

  • Anonymous

    This woman took her chances with going to prison when she committed arson. The state gave her 2 years and took its chances she’d be around to serve them. Mary died 1 week into her sentence. I see this as a lose-lose situation. 

  • Anonymous

    A little compassion from the justice system should have had this woman under house arrest or hospital care. I doubt she was any threat to anyone. I am in the last stages of cancer and couldn’t hurt a fly. I am soon changing over to Hospice care for my final days in my home. Rest in Peace.

  • Anonymous

    You are right, they knew. Its not poor healthcare in the prison, its poor decision making from the judge.

  • PaulNotBunyan

    It’s very sad but I would suggest that people click the click the link to the earlier story before they say anything critical. She fled the state and was apprehended in New Hampshire. That’s probably why her lawyer was unable to get her bail lowered. If they had been able to get her bailed out, the likely strategy would be to ask for a jury trial instead of plea bargaining. By the time they get to a trial date, it’s likely that she’ll be dead or too sick to appear in court.

  • Anonymous

    the fact that a person has a terminal illness is punishment enough.  what is jail time going to accomplish at this point?  for insurance fraud on a mobile home?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_A2KG3TXBIODNNC6FDKA2PXEEDY Small Fry

    they have already received their sentence, given to them by a judge.  it is not a medical care providers job to judge them any further or carry out any sentence.  they receive the best medical care capable by the in house nurses who take care of them.  However, under staffing and under paying of the nurses may compromise the health care, it is not at the hands of the heath care providers. their sole job it to care for illness, not judge.  

  • Anonymous

    Tragic,

  • Anonymous

    May not mean much,  but I love you.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NXPTPFL746OV2VGR5WBOEUF6W4 Roger

    Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. If you know your dying then maybe getting locked up for the last years of your life is not the best choice. If you did  not know your dying then why risk spending years in Jail? This was her doing via her choices.

  • Anonymous

    I agree, virgilcain, and best wishes.  Did you take your u-name from the song by Robbie Robertson of The Band?  Great song…

  • Anonymous

    If a fire fighter dies in the attempt to fight a fire set by an arsonist, I’ll call that murder.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DX2ITDP5YEQRDYWGTJVH64WDLI ahimsa

    Some people’s lives are truly sad, even when its of their own doing.

  • Anonymous

    Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

  • LDR

    So sorry for her family and the people that loved her.  If it is any blessing at all, at least she went quickly and not months of sufferring in prison. So sorry for her passing.  Cancer is such a horrible disease..

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NNIZMC53H2WBMKRCGE4PVE7KCM Paul

    You have to love attorneys…The woman committed a serious crime that could have lead to the death and or injury of others…aka firemen etc…While I am sorry that she died of NATURAL causes…she chose to burn down the houses for financial gain…and 2 years for 2 cases of arson is a light sentence…I do not see where the justice system did anything wrong…All one can hope for is that she received the pain meds that she may have required for the cancer she had.  I guess I am trying to say: She made a conscious CHOICE to let greed run her life…she got caught…and has to face the consequences just as anyone of us would have to…unfortunately for her….she had a terminal illness that killed her. 

  • Anonymous

    Yes I did take it from the song. And thank you for the best wishes from all.

  • Anonymous

    Plenty of people die from cancer. I do not get the point why she is so special. It is a horrible disease. ..she was in prison for a crime she commited, her choice. She was an arsonist. An arsonist who, incidentally, had cancer.

  • PaulNotBunyan

    Go ahead and do that but attempted murder involves actually trying to kill somebody. But don’t get the idea that I’m opposed to harsher penalties for criminal arson. Same for some drunk driving and some other driving offenses which can result in injury or death. I think most of us have seen some reckless driving and speeding on streets where children live and play. If we convince the cops to come out and catch them, it usually results in fines and no jail time.

  • Anonymous

    Prisoners get better care than most folks. I’m a healthcare provider UNINSURED………..they get better care than that……..they are all INSURED. Just because it’s prison doesn’t mean that the doctors and nursed aren’t any good, it means they like their jobs in the prison system.

  • Anonymous

    I agree, but… I also think punishing someone on their deathbed makes no sense.  It didn’t serve any purpose in this case. 

  • Anonymous

    It is sad that died from cancer but, she did bring the problem onto herself.

  • Anonymous

    If they don’t like the prisons health care, they should be up standing citizens and obey the laws.

  • Anonymous

    With 1 week to live???  How about some hospice or something like that?  This was a really bad decision considering her health.

  • Anonymous

    How tough do we really want or need to be to each other ? Is this the world we have become. Have we made our point?  OJ walks free for butchering two people and this woman is confined the last days of her life for buring down a trailer, and you think thats justice. WOW  

  • Anonymous

    I sww it as just plain mean spirited. Seems like we see that more and more. It is a sad that we have lost our compassion. The Bible says: The letter of the law brings death, the spirit of the law brings life. I, for one, am thankful for mercy instead of justice.

  • acadiashores

    I agree.  If her illness was terminal they should have just sent her home with hospice and one of those monitoring devices worn on the ankle.  There was really no need to have her die in prison .

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