Pro Publica tells the prisoners' health care story

Some part of the 18% of GNP spent by the United States on health care is the medical care given to prisoners in state and federal correctional facilities. A recent article by Christie Thompson at Pro Publica provides a summary of the problem:And as the elderly population in prison grows, so do their medical bills. Housing an inmate in a prison medical center costs taxpayers nearly $60,000 a year — more than twice the cost of housing an inmate in general population. I'm not sure if the medical cost accounting includes this, but there is also the additional cost of requiring prisoner patients in hospitals to be accompanied by armed guards when they leave the prisoner medical center for tertiary care in a public hospital.Thompson's story also shows that one of the unspoken tragedies in American life occurs when a prisoner is terminally ill and represents no risk to society, but is kept as part of the correctional system.Federal inmate and lawyer Lynne Stewart tried to seek compassionate release from a federal judge after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Stewart is serving a 10-year sentence in a Texas federal prison for serving as a messenger for her client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who was convicted of terrorism charges in connection with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.Prison officials denied Stewart’s request in June, saying she hadn’t proven she had less than 18 months to live. So Stewart took her case to court, hoping a federal judge ...
Source: Running a hospital - Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs