Prison Health Care

Prisons- This blog is going to cover some things I wrote about last time---the RAND Corp. report on prison parolees. Also, I’m going to comment on the ongoing three judge panel and the pending federal takeover of the California State Prisons. First, the Rand Corp report. I was reading the Oakland Tribune on 6-30-09, in the Op-Ed section was a letter to the editor by Keith Barton of Oakland. He was commenting on the problems that parolees face with regard to health care when they are out there. His idea is to bring community based care directly into the jails. That would increase the likelihood of former inmates to keep follow-up appointments upon release. That is a great idea for the County Jails, but what about the State prisons? With high rates of Hep-C and TB the average parolee needs medical care urgently upon release. And it falls to the tax payers to pick up the tab. So it makes sense to have as much preventative medicine inside the prison walls as possible. That way there are less parolees who will need urgent medical care in higher cost settings. Let’s face it, the state has done as little as possible with regard to the health care (physical and mental) of prisoners. And that is missing an opportunity to treat serious medical and mental health conditions in a controlled setting and at a fixed cost. If done correctly the health care costs should be lower per capita of similar groups treated in non-controlled settings by various private, county and state health care providers. Yet, the State of California thinks it’s cheaper to not treat prisoners in prison and release them to get more expensive care outside. Paid for by the same people—The California Tax Payer. It is as I wrote last time, the whole prison system is an illusion. I say it is an illusion because as with not rehabilitating (Education and job training) prisoners. The State, by not providing proper health care simply shifts the cost burden from the Dept. of Corrections and (HaHa) Rehabilitation to the City, County and Federal health care budgets. So it’s still the tax payer who is on the hook. Just it now costs more. For example, a prisoner has Hepatitis C and the prison Health Care knows about it but does nothing to treat it. It is still in the prisoners system when he or she paroles. Now, you have added the cost of treating the Hep-C in a community setting and the danger of new transmission. The whole disease could have been reduced if it was correctly treated by prison medical staff. But this is not happening. So the cost just gets shifted to the city or county health program but the net result is it’s the tax payer who pays. The point is—it is easier to treat a prisoner in prison then it is after they are paroled. The danger of new transmission will be less and costs can be managed more effectively. However, that’s why the federal courts have and to come in to the State of California Dept. of Corrections and …take over health care, mental health care and treatment of disabled prisoners (Blind, wheelchair bound, hearing impaired…) The Dept. just did not want to treat anyone who was behind the walls. After ten years of wrangling, the state is now saying, “sorry, but we’re broke so we can’t do any improvements to health care, etc…” The only recourse the three judge panel has is to reduce the prison population. So into the perfect storm comes the uneducated untrained, un-medically treated parolees. What choice has the state left to the judges? The State and the Dept. of Corrections have fought each and every attempt to correct problems with the various prison medical and mental health systems. I have watched men die due to lack of medical care. I just watched a man go deaf in one ear due to a simple infection in a back tooth that went untreated. The panel has no other recourse but to cut inmate time and do a slow but accelerated inmate release; and a complete shutdown of the parole system except for sex offenders and active gang members. This is, in my view the only fix available to the panel in times with limited money in the state treasury and an unwillingness by state officials to make the needed changes. The three judge panel needs to act sooner rather than later. I’m just sick of watching men suffer both mentally and physically for now reason other than the state and the Dept. of Corrections complete indifference to the medical and mental health needs of prisoners in their care. I hope my message is filtering out. Please remember the failure of the State of California prison system to care for and rehabilitate the men and women on the whole of society. What happens in these walls will also happen outside these walls. Please push for reform and a quick end to the prison health care problem. With Respect, Veritas