The topic of healthcare seemed to strike a nerve more than almost anything else we've talked about with the women at ICIW. It seemed they would've been able to talk for hours about the horrendous and inhumane conditions of the facility's healthcare system. The women were talking over each other to share stories about the poor treatment they or someone they know has received.
The articles about healthcare tell the same story. It is disturbing, though not entirely shocking, that prisoners are made to wait unreasonable amounts of time to get treatment and that their requests for care are often reviewed by non-medical personnel. The study that found one in four prison physicians had been disciplined by licensing boards, while the general rate is one in 40, is also appalling. And the shackling of women while giving birth also gets me every time...this is 2010 for godsake!
These disturbing practices and sub-par treatment standards imply, not so subtly, that incarcerated individuals are not as deserving of healthcare as those who are free. This is so unfortunate because people who are incarcerated are often the people who need healthcare the most. They suffer disproportionately from mental illness and substance abuse, and many women in prison have been physically or sexually abused at some point in their lives. I don't understand how the justice system can expect these people to gain the self respect to turn their lives around if they aren't able to receive the basic medical care all people deserve. During the healthcare reform debates of the past couple years, the country became outraged that so many Americans lack adequate healthcare, yet no one seems to care about the suffering of our country's enormous incarcerated population. I don't think the purpose of prisons is to suffer under inhumane conditions until you finally die. If the goal of our justice system is rehabilitation of some form, it has to provide people basic human dignity and the rights we all deserve, of which healthcare is one.
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