BOSTON (CBS) – A fine line between negligence and torture. When former Speaker of the Massachusetts House Salvatore DiMasi was convicted of political corruption he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was relocated to Kentucky, and wasn’t given treatment for his heart condition. When he started expressing concerns about lumps in his throat and requested tests, he went months without as much as a diagnostic. It was later found out he had cancer. By then, it was stage four. Attorney Harvey Silverglate stops by the studio to discuss this case, and how he thinks DiMasi would have been treated humanely, had he been a “cooperating witness.” Do you think this counts as torture? If a former Speaker of the House is treated this way, how are your Average Joe’s treated in prison?

Originally broadcast July 18th, 2012.