The Los Angeles Times ran an article today, discussing substandard prison healthcare in California after several inmate deaths.
Although not something we think about often, prison healthcare is still tax-supported healthcare.
According to the article, asthma is apparently the leading cause of preventable deaths in prison.
I know that prison healthcare is almost always substandard, but ASTHMA!
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2 comments:
Doesn't make any sense does it? Kind of goes along with inmates waiting months for a visit from their court-appointed lawyers, except when it comes to healthcare, obviously there are more life-threatening issues.
As an inmate you have no other access to healthcare except through the jail or prison. If the institution isn't providing that, then you are stuck! I think it is appalling to think of people not only biding their time with life-threatening health issues, but also the ones sitting there in agonizing pain. I don't know much about how the prison healthcare system works but from what I've heard in the news it seems to be seriously lacking.
What about pregnant inmates? What kind of care do they get? I think the area of prison health is probably loaded with topics that have yet to be covered in the news. Like Chris said, prisoners are a segment of the population that most people don't think about and this needs to change.
Professor Greenman and I organized a conference on prison health and labor practices back in May 2006. A summary of the presentations is available online, in the events and conferences part of the KnightHealth site. Check it out!
And, if you really want to read something horrifying about prisons and mental health, drop by the office and borrow Pete Earley's book "Crazy," about his mentally ill son and the criminal justice system.
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