7,000 a Year Die in U.S. Prisons

[LiviaOlivia]

Prison deaths: a national shame
By Ira P. Robbins
December 6, 2006

WASHINGTON--While the alleged human rights abuses of prisoners detained in Guantánamo Bay and the Middle East have sparked widespread criticism and debate in this country and abroad, surprisingly little attention has been focused on the treatment of citizens imprisoned within our borders. Each year, approximately 7,000 Americans die in U.S. prisons and jails. Some of these deaths are from natural causes, but many more result from mental disorders left undiagnosed and diseases left untreated.

The abhorrent quality of correctional health care not only violates prisoners' constitutional rights, it costs taxpayers millions of dollars and threatens the general health of communities surrounding these facilities. Understanding why prisoners die is an essential first step in identifying the major pitfalls of our health care system. Passing legislation to correct these problems is the crucial next step. Therefore, Congress should extend and strengthen the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act, or DICRA, before it expires at the end of this year.

~snip~

Comprehensive prison health care avoids expensive and time-consuming court proceedings over claims of inadequate care that often result in large monetary settlements paid to prisoner plaintiffs. Proper treatment of health conditions before they escalate also eliminates the need for more costly treatments in the future. Moreover, inadequate prison health care has a direct effect on the health of our communities. Communicable diseases like tuberculosis, Hepatitis C and HIV reach the public through released prisoners and those who visit or work inside the prisons.

The divisiveness of prisoners' rights as a political issue is no excuse for congressional inaction. Continued DICRA reporting is essential to making prisons a more humane part of the justice system and to ensuring that the government fulfills its duty to provide proper medical care to prisoners.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.prisons06dec06,0,6245763.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines

[Briar]

1. The best indicator of how civilised a society is

comes from the way it treats those who receive least sympathy and compassion.

[YOY]

3. Dostoevsky, No?

n/t

[durrrty libby]

2. saved to read later

[Jcrowley]

4. K & R n/t

[nam78_two]

5. K&R.nt

[sarcasmo]

6. Kick, Five Million in our Prison system. The American way.