WNednesday, July 14, 1976 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Doge Seven Ferency seeks end to crowded prisons By CHRIS PARKS LANSING (UP) - Controver- sial attorney Zolton Ferency is trying to use a little known pro- vision in a law he helped write to force the state to stop accept- ing new prisoners in its over- crowded prisons. Pacemaker batteries obsolete? By The Associated Press Conventional cardiac pace- makers, which depend on bat- teries for their energy, someday may be replaced by a perma- nent model, powered by the body's own energy. Scientists at the University of Missouri - Columbia and Massachusetts General Hospi- tal say the new system, if per- fected, would eliminate the need for repeated and often costly surgery to replace the standard artificial batteries. The new device is expected to cost no more than a conven- tional pacemaker, about $1,500, and would weigh about half as much. ALLEN HAHN, a biomedical engineer at Missouri, says al- though the model probably won't be ready for human ex- perimentation for another five years, animal tests have prov- en successful. "I would say probably an- other set of long - term ani- mal experiments is needed be- fore human transplantation can be considered," Hahn said in a recent interview. About 300,000 persons in the world are being kept alive by artificial pacemakers attached to the walls of their hearts, statistics show. The vast ma- jority of those using pacemak- ers require additional surgery to replace the worn out bat- teries. The new device, called a hy- brid biogalvanic cell, would eliminate the need for the sec- ond and sometimes third opera- tion for battery replacement, Hahn said. THE PRINCIPLE behind the new pacemaker turns the body into a human battery. Two electrodes, one zinc and the other platinum, create a chem- ical reaction within the body. The platinum reacts with the body's natural chemicals, which in torn causes oxygen to move from one electrode to the other. That movement creates elec- trical current. Everyone has a natural pace- maker, an area of tissue in the upper right portion of the heart. When it fails to send im- pulses at consistent intervals and at sufficiently powerful levels, an artificial pacemaker is needed. The current created by the chemical reaction in the new device imitates nature's pace- maker and sends new, regular impulses to the heart through tiny wires. The Flood Control Act en- acted by Congress in 1928, fol- lwing the great Mississippi flood of 1927, appropriated $325 million for levee work in the Mississippi Valley over a 10- year period. Ferency plans to file a suit in Ingham County Circuit Court today on behalf of the Human Rights Party seeking a judg- ment that the state prisons are overcrowded and that state Corrections Department Direc- tor Perry Johnson has the authority to refuse. to accept new prisoners and to release some current inmates. IN A MAY 20 letter, Ferency asked Johnson to declare that continued admission of prison- ers would contribute to a crowding problem that consti- tutes "cruel and unusual" pun- ishment of prisoners. At present, there are about 11,800 prisoners in a system de- signed for 10,800. Ferency said as a result of the overcrowding, prisoners are forced to sleep in cots in hallways of some prisons and at others, are held in maxi- mum security cells even though they are not supposed to be re- ceiving punishment. Ferency wrote the letter in accordance with the terms of the state's 1969 administrative procedure act which allows any interested citizens to challenge the rules and procedures of state agencies. FERENCY, who was on the state bar association committee which drafted the act, said the section of the law he is now using was designed to give citi- zens some influence over the state bureaucracy. He said although he has used the law frequently in recent years, few people are aware it exists. He used the act successfully in a case challenging the right of the State Police to maintain files on legal political activities, but it did not work in an effort to end the state subsidy for the Pontiac Stadium. FERENCY decided to file suit against the Corrections Depart- ment 'Saturday when he re- ceived a letter from Johnson saying he had been advised by the Attorney General's office that he could not refuse to ac- cept new inmates. Ferency noted a somewhat similar case challenging over- crowding in the Wayne County Jail was successful, and Cor- rections Department officials concede that case could easily go the same way. He said if his suit is successful, judges would simply have to grant probation in more cases and agree to the early release of prisoners who are not dangerous. The department has already started such an early release program. FERENCY, who once ran for governor as a Democrat, said he does not go along with those who say the department's major problem is a lack of funds to build needed new facilities. "I'm opposed to building more prisons," he said. "There are far too many people in pri- sons now who don't belong there." A lbmmansmma Manufactured and Distributed by RCA Recorob 300 S. Stote - 665-3679 1235 S. University - 668-9866 on SALE for 3.99 HOIURS: 10-9 MON.-SAT.; 12-6 SUN.