Yaeger Dies After Seeing Father
Last Wish To See Imprisioned Dad Granted Just In Time
Jacyi Yaeger lost her battle with terminal cancer a day after her jailed father visited her bedside. Family and supporters had been fighting to fulfill Jacyi's last wish.
A dying girl who held on to see her imprisoned father one last time has died one day after her wish came true. Jayci Yaeger, 10, from Lincoln, Nebraska passed away on Friday, March 28th from terminal brain cancer. Her father, Jason Yaeger, has been in federal prison in Yankton, South Dakota for the past four years, and it had been his daughter’s dying wish to see him before he died.
Federal authorities allowed the visit thanks to an outpouring of letters and phone calls all over the country pleading for the fulfillment of the girl’s request. He visited her Wednesday at a Lincoln hopice led by three escorts, leaving only to be consulted by hospice counselors on how to speak to his daughter about the situation.
Yaeger has spent four years in federal prison on methamphetamine charges and was scheduled to be released next year. He had previously been granted three visits to see his daughter but was denied requests for longer visits or an early transfer to a halfway house in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The media attention and appeals from the Yaeger family have led to Yaeger’s release to a halfway house in August, having asked President Bush for clemency.
Jayci’s mother, Vonda, believed that her daughter held on as long as she did so she could see her dad. Many of those who helped protest the prison’s initial decision not to grant Yeager a visit were local Lincoln residents who saw the Yaeger’s story on the local KETV NewsWatch 7 and mailed their support for the family to the prison warden directly.
Another person who was contacted was the governor of South Dakota, who commented that he wasn’t able to help because Yaeger was in a federal prison. A nationwide petition was also started in the rush to get Jason Yaeger to his daughter’s bedside on time. During this time, Jayci was said to have gone to her room crying that she wanted to see her dad.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ policy states that furloughs can be allowed in the case of a family crisis, but the determination of what constitutes a family crisis is left up to the warden, who would not tell the family why their case did not fit the definition of a family crisis. The previous visits to his daughter had been short and cost the family hundreds of dollars. He also spoke to his daughter on the phone as much as possible before he was able to see her in person one last time.
