A review of deaths in 500-plus U.S. jails over a three-year period ending in 2018 revealed that death rates are higher when a facility relies on one of the five leading healthcare contractors as compared with medical care managed by government agencies. The types of deaths analyzed in the review included those resulting from the acute effects of alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, medical conditions, and illness.

Depending upon the healthcare company providing medical care to inmates, death rates might be between 18% to 58% higher than when local health departments provide the care.

The report of these findings includes specific examples of inmate deaths, including the devastation the deaths have caused to families throughout the country.

One 32-year-old inmate deteriorated rapidly during incarceration. At one point, the inmate informed his mother in a phone call that he needed hospitalization and was going to die at the jail. Research shows that one physician and two well-qualified nurses had advised that he be hospitalized. A senior manager at the contracted health care agency, however, opposed sending the man to the hospital.

Not long afterward, a suspicious spot was seen on an X-ray of the inmate’s chest. The inmate was quickly taken to be seen by a cardiologist, who immediately had the inmate transported to the hospital. It was, however, too late. The inmate rapidly deteriorated and suffered irreversible brain damage before dying after two weeks in the hospital.

Learn more about this story in this ongoing series.

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–Guest Contributor