(Note: This is Part 1 of a two-part series on initial health assessments.) Nelson Mandela Rule #30 says something that to us might seem obvious: A physician or other qualified health-care professional … shall see, talk with and examine every prisoner as soon as possible following their admission and thereafter as necessary. The United Nations …
Initial Health Assessments: Getting It Right from the Start Read More »
On December 7, 2020, 44-year-old Thomas Rutledge was found unresponsive in the mental health ward of William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama. His body temperature was 109°F, ten degrees above normal body temperature. He died soon afterward from severe hyperthermia. So how does someone die from hyperthermia in December? According to an investigation, …
“Hotter than Three Hells”: Heat-Related Deaths in Prison Read More »
“The simple presence of an outside observer changes what happens inside a prison environment. It also can show us who we really are.” Michele Dietch From 2001 to 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice compiled the records of every inmate death in federal and state prisons (Carson, 2021a, 2021b). The results painted a grim picture of what …
Correctional Oversight Systems: Who’s Watching the Watchers? Read More »
Correctional healthcare, like care in the community, involves a patient and a doctor who meet in an examination room. The patient voices his or her complaints, the doctor takes a history and then performs a physical examination. Perhaps some testing is needed. There is then a diagnosis and a recommended treatment. Straightforward, right? Not quite. …
The Responsible Health Authority in Correctional Healthcare Read More »
Standard of care is a legal term that essentially revolves around the concept of the reasonable person standard – i.e. whether someone acted with care as another ordinary, law-abiding individual would have in the same circumstances. When it comes to medical care, the definition refers to the type and level of care that a prudent health care …
