The Other Prison Health Crisis
…..”By not assuming the financial cost of treatment, defendants are imposing a human cost on the prisoners as well as on the population which will be at risk when these prisoners will be released.”
Hepatitis C is a persistent problem in prisons. The virus is spread most frequently through shared drug syringes and unsafe tattooing methods. If left untreated, it can lead to liver failure and death. Recent figures suggest that about two percent of the American population suffers from hepatitis C, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in three incarcerated people have it. (Figures are fuzzy, however, which is part of the problem.)
Last week, prisoner advocacy groups filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Boston, accusing the Massachusetts Department of Correction of denying medical treatment to inmates infected with hepatitis C. Despite the fact that it’s contagious, potentially deadly, and has recently become easily treatable, the suit alleges, only three of the approximately 1,500 state prisoners infected with the disease are currently being treated for it.
