Prisoners have no means of making money, nor the ability to seek private health care. Yet they still obviously get sick, and receive medical care. In some cases very very very expensive medical care. These people receive better health care than quite a few non incarcerated people. We have more people in prison now than ever before ( thanks to the failed war on drugs ) , and the cost grows rapidly. With the rate of incarceration for minor non violent crimes growing rapidly, along with the costs of healthcare also growing rapidly, it is a major strain on prison budgets.
my personal belief is that we must morally provide health care that is commonley approved for most proceadures. ( no experimental or cutting edge care unless donated in some way ). To me it constitutes cruel punishment to deny medical care to people who cannot in any way provide it to them self due to being imprisoned.
Yes, but.... I know extremists hate to hear a "but"...but...basic health care has to be provided for people under the care of the government whether they're held on a firebase in Afghanistan, a prison in New York, or a reservation in New Mexico. But, the prisoner in Maryland some years ago who killed his children with fire and then tried to kill himself with a shotgun did not deserve reconstructive surgery at taxpayer expense before he left prison. Hell, I never figured out why he was leaving prison. Prisoners who want sex change operations shouldn't get them on taxpayer dollars or prisoners who want to stay male but grow breasts shouldn't get hormone treatments at taxpayer expense. Cosmetic surgery shouldn't be paid for. Basic health care is mandatory.
i dont know the details on the reconstruct so i cant comment on that. And I agree that "elective" stuff shouldnt be cared for. I was refering more to the very expensive diseases to treat. Cancer. Hepatitus. So on and so forth.
if he was having issues eating or breathing, yes they should pay for it... but no, not elective surgery, only things real insurance would cover, elective surgery is out .
i think health care should be free for anyone with a citizenship incarcerated or not. like it is in most European countries.
Morally speaking I think the availability of basic healthcare has to be mandatory and having it state funded is really the only practical way to achieve that. There are valid objections to some of the elective treatment mentioned (though I'm sure dishonest reporting about some cases too). I also suspect that not providing medical treatment could actually cost the prison system more - there would be additional costs and disruption holding a prison full of sick and injured people. That the costs increasing because the number of prisoners is ever increasing has an more direct (though not easy) solution and the fact many citizens don't have the same basic level of healthcare available to them strongly suggests to me that should be improved, not others brought down to the lowest common denominator.
This is a sensitive argument also in Italy: here the employment of prisoners in social jobs is growing. For example to clean streets or to make order in a public park ... anyway social jobs don't generate an earn [a municipality doesn't pay the prison for the job of its prisoners, it's free for the mayor ...]. Different matter is if the prisoners can work in a productive system, in that case they generate earns for the prison, but usually not enough. We say that prisoners are in prison to "pay their debt with the society" creating a further debt for the society! Personally I would limit health care for prisoners to strict humanitarian health care [base cures and that's all], but being public in Italy, the system of prisons supply also expensive cures without trouble [and we pay].
We really ought to make greater use of prison labor. Call centers, anything they can do which is productive. If they're competent programmers, get them doing freelance jobs and use a portion of the proceeds to pay for incarceration and care. If they're not - put them in the prison manufactory. Make the default something really undesirable, like construction. Allow them to develop their skills in different industries to become more profitable. Perhaps allow them to spend some of it on upgrades for their cells: television, books -that sort of thing.
that invites slave labor... now, say a voluntary system so they could learn a trade and not be criminals when released, then I would be all for it I would pay them, but sense they get free room and board, it would not be a min wage and a portion would have to go towards restitution and fines .
Either we use the threat of men with guns to compel prisoners to provide for their incarceration, or we use the threat of men with guns to compel innocents to provide for the incarceration of those prisoners. Either alternative invovles a degree of slave labor. True enough that many are in prison for victimless crimes like drugs - but that's a separate issue. If your incarceration is actually justified - you should be forced.to pay for it, or a single .22 cartridge, and 15 minutes gun hire.
The level of life in prison could be related to the kind and the value of the job made by the prisoner ... this wouldn't be enslavement, but a way to endorse a more active attitude by the imprisoned subjects towards working during the detention. If they work , generating earns in the prison they can get more from the prison and live a better life, if they don't work ... only base treatment for them.
Eh, they have to make a choice: are they going to accept that the life of the prisoners improves ... or are they keeping on paying taxes to sustain prisoners in prison? There is an alternative: imagine a nice advertising ... Help the economy of your government! Be patriot and adopt a prisoner in US prisons. FOR ONLY 80$ per month you can feed your beloved prisoner.
I remember reading somewhere that a society is judged by how it treats it's prisoners. So, yes, I guess we should provide health care to our prisoners.
One of the downsides of living in a moral, secular Western society is that your tax dollars fund a few things you don't like. In your case, prisoner healthcare. The same society that gives you roads, access to K-12 education, a police department to protect you, a military to serve you is the same society that helps out poor working moms and criminals. Either way, their healthcare isn't directly coming out of your paycheck sans your tax contribution each year. There isn't a line on your paycheck dictating that this % went toward criminal healthcare. Why do you care? It's not like supporting healthcare for criminals means you support criminals, it just makes you better than them and a more moral human being.
Well that's good, a society is only as good as the prisoners they treat. This is reflective in countries like Saudi Arabia and others who no one in there right mind would want to live in.
