Reentry Programs to Help Former Prisoners Obtain Health Care Are Often Underused

When Matthew Boyd was released from a Georgia state prison in December 2020, officials sent him home without medicines he uses to manage chronic heart and lung conditions and high blood pressure, he said. Less than a month later, he spent eight days in an intensive care unit, the first of more than 40 hospital … Read more

Judge to Fine California Each Day It Fails to Complete Prisoner Suicide Prevention Measures

A federal judge said this week that she will begin fining California potentially tens of thousands of dollars daily after more than 200 prison inmates killed themselves during eight years in which state corrections officials failed to complete court-ordered suicide prevention measures. Addressing a chronic tragedy that has plagued the state for decades, Chief U.S. … Read more

A Law Was Meant to Free Sick or Aging Inmates. Instead, Some Are Left to Die in Prison.

Jimmy Dee Stout was serving time on drug charges when he got grim news early last year. Doctors told Stout, now 62, the sharp pain and congestion in his chest were caused by stage 4 lung cancer, a terminal condition. “I’m holding on, but I would like to die at home,” he told the courts … Read more

In PA County Jails, Guards Use Pepper Spray and Stun Guns to Subdue People in Mental Crisis

When police arrived on the scene, they found Ishmail Thompson standing naked outside a hotel near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He had just punched a man. After his arrest, a mental health specialist at the county jail said Thompson should be sent to the hospital for psychiatric care. However, after a few hours at the hospital, a … Read more