Why Care???? Because... you better read this..

Why Care for Prisoner’s Healthcare?

 

By Carl R. ToersBijns, former deputy warden, ASPC Eyman

A recent incident reported by an investigative reporter, who received a tip from a prisoner’s family member about the wrongful use of a needle syringe inside a state prison, made the local mainstream news. The reporter revealed poor medical practices as far as “sharp controls” and demonstrated the critical need for needle control within our prisons to prevent exposures to infectious diseases.

This exposure to an infectious disease has been downplayed by the Arizona Corrections Department and only warranted a $ 10,000 dollar fine for not following sound medical standards related to syringe and needle control as well as the use of such instruments. It is exactly this type of lack of concern for the prisoner’s health that impacts our community’s health and public safety daily.

The spread of infectious diseases among prisons impacts not just the prisoner but also the prison staff and the general public. The care for HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis and other infectious diseases within our prisons continues to suffer as our medical providers contracted with the state fail to meet their moral and legal responsibilities to treat prisoners in a timely, effective manner.

The general public must know or should know that whatever happens or whoever lives or works behind prison walls and razor wire impacts our communities when the workers go home and when the prisoners are released.  We owe it to the community, our families and our neighbors to protect them from infections by insisting the medical provider for our prison system adheres to and practices sound infectious disease education, prevention and intervention methods.

The infection of a person not incarcerated and the infection of a person incarcerated should be the same and treated with the same priorities. There is a significant difference between the two persons that make it a critical concern to all and that is a person in prison does not have the access or ready means to seek self-protection and other preventive steps as those in the free world.
 
The bottom line here is we must demand our government takes the appropriate steps to protect prisoners and prison officers alike for it is logical and reasonable to bring this matter to a logical conclusion that by protecting them, we protect society.

 

 

 

October 21, 2012