Marcia Powell Character Analysis

Marcia Powell was a drug addict and sex worker who died of heat exposure in one of Joe Arpaio’s Arizona jails after spending several hours in an unprotected outdoor cage in the scorching hot desert. The guards who forced her into the cage spent hours mocking and laughing at her, then refused to call for medical assistance when she collapsed. Several of these guards were fired, but none was charged with a crime. Powell’s treatment shows that the drug war incentivizes cruelty and sadism within the government by painting drug users as inhuman criminals. The impunity for the officers who caused her death shows that the drug war has weakened the rule of law in countries that primarily focus on punishing drug sales and use, like the U.S., as well as in countries that focus on fighting drug trafficking, like Mexico. After her death, Powell was nearly forgotten and buried anonymously, which shows how the drug war’s policies dehumanize addicts in addition to inflicting terrible, unnecessary death and suffering on them. Moreover, when Hari meets Powell’s ex-boyfriend Richard Husman, he learns that Powell had actually quit drugs and built a stable life for herself—until she was dragged back into the legal system because of a years-old warrant for a very small amount of marijuana. Thus, Powell’s story also shows how harsh drug laws and prison sentences actually drag people back into addiction. Ultimately, the drug war causes the same crimes that it aims to fight.