The North Carolina Department of Corrections is preparing to open a hospital and mental health facility in November in order to treat the aging prison population of the state. The new hospital will be able to provide CT scans and other tests that normally would have had to have been done in an outside hospital. In 2010, according to the News Observer,the NC DOC spent $90 million on outside hospital visits by inmates. With 1,700 inmates admitted to community hospitals last year the cost of transporting, and then providing security, was a whopping $11 million.
Security for inmates in local medical facilities is cause for concern for some hospital administrators. Some hospitals insist on a vacant room beside each room occupied by inmates, with correctional officers providing security. The idea that all inmates are at risk to other patients was expressed by the spokesman for the North Carolina Hospital Association. Don Dalton. Speaking to the News Observer, Dalton claimed that “These people are incarcerated because they are dangerous,” oblivious to the fact that a large segment of prison inmates have been sentenced for non-violent crimes.
While the NC DOC expects to save money by treating inmates in a prison hospital complex, the state will also have to spend money to hire additional staff members, including those with a medical background, as well as more correctional officers.
As individuals get older more medical problems arise. Correctional facilities across America are seeing more inmates with serious medical conditions such as cancer, heart problems, and Alzheimer’s disease. The subject of keeping elderly prisoners locked up when they may pose no risk to the community is a hotly debated topic. A recent AP article examines the views of victims of crimes and the move to release sick and elderly inmates as a cost saving measure.
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