Austin American Statesman, Jan. 20, 2008
This editorial states that medical care of inmates in Texas prisons has to get better. "Medical care in Texas prisons seems as much as ever to be an oxymoron. For many years, the medicine practiced behind prison walls too often has been afflicted by a lack of care. . .. "When Texas contracted with two university medical schools to provide health care to prisoners, it was praised as an inexpensive way to provide quality care. But even under care of the University of Texas Medical Branch and Texas Tech University, inmate health care has been spotty, even dismal at times."
EDITORIAL
Improving prison medical care depends on all of us
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Medical care in Texas prisons seems as much as ever to be an oxymoron. For many years, the medicine practiced behind prison walls too often has been afflicted by a lack of care.
There are many reasons for that - too little money, a shortage of professionals, decrepit equipment, an aging inmate population. These problems have plagued the sprawling Texas prison system for decades.
It appears that a widespread disregard for the inmates' health and well-being permeates the prison system. Not in every prison and not with every inmate. But nearly 2,000 inmates died over a recent four-year span, the most in any state in the country - even California, with its larger prison population.
It should be of great concern across Texas that, as the American-Statesman's Mike Ward has reported, prison inmates die in agony, their injuries ignored. Or hang themselves with guards watching and die because attempts at resuscitation were delayed. But it isn't. In both of those cases reported by Ward, no one was punished.
Beyond the inmates and their families, too few people are outraged at the wanting medical care in Texas prisons. Because inmates are convicted criminals, and often unpleasant ones at that, sympathy is in short supply.
It should matter, though. We are distinguished as a people and as a state by the way we treat the least among us, including those who have broken the law.
Texas prison inmates are still human, and how we regard them determines the content of our character.
We ignore prisons and inmate care at our peril, both moral and physical. Those prisoners are fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters. We should care enough about them to guarantee decent treatment no matter what their crimes.
And the vast majority of them will walk among us again, will return to their hometowns and the big cities. Their attitudes will depend in no small part on how they were treated in prison.
When Texas contracted with two university medical schools to provide health care to prisoners, it was praised as an inexpensive way to provide quality care. But even under care of the University of Texas Medical Branch and Texas Tech University, inmate health care has been spotty, even dismal at times.
Some Texas lawmakers have shown concern because so many deaths could be signs of deeper troubles. And lawmakers want to avoid another court ruling that the prison system is unconstitutional. That could be cumbersome and costly.
State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice committee, has scheduled a committee hearing this week to examine prison health care. Shining a bright light on the problems that have surfaced could be the beginning of better health care. Punishing neglect helps avoid similar problems in the future.
In the end, though, proper medical care in state prisons is a matter of our own self-respect. Arizona Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war and now Republican presidential hopeful, said it best when discussing torture: It's not about them, it's about us.