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August 28, 2006
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For more than two months, Free Press editorial writer and columnist Jeff Gerritt has been examining the worsening state of health care in Michigan's prisons, which costs taxpayers $190 million a year. Misdiagnoses, delayed treatment and a host of other troubles plague the system, in some cases turning prison stays into death sentences. From a mentally ill 21-year-old who was left strapped to a table for most of four days before he died, to an inmate whose cancerous polyp was mistreated as a hemorrhoid and now, at 41, has less than a year to live, to a woman who had both lower legs amputated because doctors ignored her condition, Gerritt illuminated a health care system that has been far more punitive than the justice system itself. To read previous coverage, go to freep.com. |
Gov. Jennifer Granholm took the right first step in ordering an independent review of state prison health care last week, following an investigation by the Free Press editorial page. Now she must make sure the review is done right. If not, longstanding practices will continue that endanger inmate health, encourage more lawsuits, invite further federal control of state prisons, and provide practically no oversight of the $280 million a year taxpayers spend on prison medical and mental health care.
A proper review must include confidential interviews with current and former prison employees, as well as with the staff of outside hospitals under contract to treat inmates. People must feel free to speak their minds without fear of retaliation. Investigators must also talk confidentially with prisoners, who are too often discounted by prison medical staff.
Prisoner advocacy groups such as Prison Legal Services of Michigan in Jackson and the American Friends Service Committee in Ann Arbor can provide valuable insights. They have worked on prison health care problems for years.
Much valuable work and research have already been done. Jackson prisons have been under a federal consent decree since 1985 to improve medical care and other conditions. Federal court documents, filed by an independent medical monitor and expert witnesses, provide an excellent starting point.
Among other things, the investigation must focus on critical staff shortages, employee turnover and competence. Beyond hiring and training, it should review restraint polices, record keeping, inmate grievance procedures, response times to patient complaints, delays and denials in treatment, how custody and medical staff interact, and medical care in segregation units. It must also examine the contract, now worth $70 million a year, with Correctional Medical Services Inc., a Missouri-based company that has faced legal problems around the country.
Finally, the review must examine lines of authority, accountability and oversight. The Legislature closed its Corrections ombudsman's office three years ago. Inmate grievance procedures are cumbersome and ineffective. Legislators, the governor and Corrections don't appear to exercise any real oversight.
Inattention has resulted in a dangerous, sometimes deadly prison health care system. In one of the cases reported by the Free Press, a mentally ill inmate died after spending most of his last four days restrained in a hot cell.
The state owes the citizens and taxpayers of Michigan an answer. Only a thorough and honest review can provide it.
Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.
