Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Trial Opens Over Alleged Poor Medical Care at Women's Prison
This trial seems to be getting little news coverage.
A trial opens Monday morning [06/11] in federal court alleging that inmates at the Fluvanna Correctional for Women have been medically neglected, sometimes fatally, due to allegedly inadequate medical care.
Back in 2014, the inmates won a victory when they got a summary judgment and a settlement agreement, which they now claim has been violated. Legal analyst Lloyd Snook, "The judge will hear horror stories, and there are a lot of horror stories to be heard."
The prisoners claim there have been deaths and other harms due to poor care, and the legal analyst says the prison's privatized care is built on a formula for failure. "The way the contract is written for the providers of these services, they make money when they don't provide services." The state claims that it has acted in good faith and that it's in substantial compliance with the 2014 agreement.
Back in 2014, the inmates won a victory when they got a summary judgment and a settlement agreement, which they now claim has been violated. Legal analyst Lloyd Snook, "The judge will hear horror stories, and there are a lot of horror stories to be heard."
The prisoners claim there have been deaths and other harms due to poor care, and the legal analyst says the prison's privatized care is built on a formula for failure. "The way the contract is written for the providers of these services, they make money when they don't provide services." The state claims that it has acted in good faith and that it's in substantial compliance with the 2014 agreement.
Audio of the text pasted above:http://ideastations.org/radio/news/trial-opens-over-alleged-poor-medical-care-womens-prison
Lloyd Snook is one of my regular reads on facebook.
Edit to add some background.
At Fluvanna Correctional Center For Women, horror story after horror story in medical care
By Gary A. Harki
The Virginian-Pilot
Dec 10, 2016
FLUVANNA COUNTY
A state prison in Fluvanna County that houses more than 200 inmates from Hampton Roads faces so many concerns over the medical care it provides that it is under a federal court order to comply with the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
While the Hampton Roads Regional Jail has received intense scrutiny over the deaths of inmates Jamycheal Mitchell and Henry Stewart, it was the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women – the largest women’s prison run by the state – that prompted a 2012 lawsuit in federal court alleging a “systemic, pervasive and on-going” failure to meet the minimum standards of medical care for inmates.
“I think the most horrifying thing to me was that this was the prison that Virginia designated as the place for women that were the sickest,” said Deborah Golden, a lawyer for the D.C. Prisoners’ Project of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. “If this is supposed to be your best facility, then your other facilities are going to have problems as well. I realize that we don’t always want to think about these places, but they are a part of our communities, and the people who are in them are a part of our communities. They’re someone’s loved ones.”
Denial of medication, refusing requests to see a doctor and missed appointments for chronic care appear again and again in the Fluvanna court file, say the attorneys who brought the lawsuit.
<snip>
A state prison in Fluvanna County that houses more than 200 inmates from Hampton Roads faces so many concerns over the medical care it provides that it is under a federal court order to comply with the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
While the Hampton Roads Regional Jail has received intense scrutiny over the deaths of inmates Jamycheal Mitchell and Henry Stewart, it was the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women – the largest women’s prison run by the state – that prompted a 2012 lawsuit in federal court alleging a “systemic, pervasive and on-going” failure to meet the minimum standards of medical care for inmates.
“I think the most horrifying thing to me was that this was the prison that Virginia designated as the place for women that were the sickest,” said Deborah Golden, a lawyer for the D.C. Prisoners’ Project of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. “If this is supposed to be your best facility, then your other facilities are going to have problems as well. I realize that we don’t always want to think about these places, but they are a part of our communities, and the people who are in them are a part of our communities. They’re someone’s loved ones.”
Denial of medication, refusing requests to see a doctor and missed appointments for chronic care appear again and again in the Fluvanna court file, say the attorneys who brought the lawsuit.
<snip>
Much more at:https://pilotonline.com/news/government/politics/virginia/article_9096368d-54ce-5018-beb7-bea8732e8965.html
