IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

The U.S. constitution requires jailers and prison officials to provide pretrial detainees and prisoners with adequate medical and mental health care.  'Adequate'  has been defined by the courts as "services at a level reasonably commensurate with modern medical science and of a quality acceptable within prudent professional standards, and at a level designed to meet routine and emergency medical, dental, psychological or psychiatric needs."

Adequate health care is therefore supposed to be a right that is not substandard for those incarcerated.  But at the Dallas County Texas Jails (Decker Bldg, Susan K Bldg, New Holland, Government Center/George Allen Bldg. and Lew Sterrett's North & West Towers);  the opposite is true, and aside from being grossly unconstitutional, the situation boarders on being criminally negligent. 

Dallas Texas has the nations 7th largest jail system, and for two years in a row the jail has failed the inspection conducted by the Texas Commission on jail standards. The jail has received much media attention because of the failures as noted by the Texas Commission on jail standards, and following an independent study conducted which focused on the array of problems at the county jail. 

Thirty-eight (38) recommendations were made for improvements that needed to occur at the jail, particularly as it relates to the timely delivery of adequate medical and mental health care; starting with the jail's intake process in discharge/release procedures.  But to date, none of the recommendations have been implemented by Dallas Sherrif Lupe Valdez. 

The Dallas County Commissioners have done lots of finger pointing and political posturing, but they too have taken a position of inaction on the recommendations necessary for improving the health care crisis at the jail.

Dallas County Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield has been quoted in the media as saying "The Dallas County jail is a law suit waiting to happen."  From my own personal insight and experiences, I can honestly tell you that the Dallas County Jail is more like a death sentence in wait, and this is especially true for those prisoners and pre-trial detainees  with chronic illnesses or mental health needs, such as myself (epilepsy, asthma, bi-polar) which will ether be ignored, overlooked, mistreated and/or misdiagnosed by the jail's staff.

Something must be done immediately to remedy this accountability void, otherwise more families will lose their loved ones once they become trapped inside the maze that makes up the Dallas County jail system.

By
Lakeith Amir-Sharif
Big Springs State Hospital
432-268-7462

NOTE:  No matter what 'solutions' the county comes up with, the only REAL and lasting solution is to quit putting so many people in prisons.  Bad laws, excitable police officers, pushy prosecutors, overworked clerks, overwhelmed public defenders and undertrained jailers all add up to steel and concrete human warehouses, filled past capacity with people who could better benefit by non-prison methods. There's not enough money in the world to take care of all these prisoners properly.  To use incarceration as a first choice instead of a last resort cannot help but create an impossible to solve situation and that's what we have in Dallas County today.   Kay Lee

Emergency CARE FOR INMATES SURGES
Dallas County: "Money-saving deal" has hidden costs

Tax hike sought for jail care
Dallas: Parkland board says extra $6 million may not be enough
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072005dnmetjailhealth.1686eb3.html
10:03 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 19, 2005
By JAMES M. O'NEILL / The Dallas Morning News

SUMMARY: Parkland Memorial Hospital, which is being forced by default to oversee the jail's health care, is going to ask the county for an estimated minimum of $6 million above their current $14 million budget although health care experts say it might cost $36 million more to make the necessary and significant improvements called for. They have to do something since an assessment of Callas county jail health care outlined severe staff shortages and problems so serious as to be life-threatening to some inmates.  The jail just had another federal lawsuit filed against it and is facing a possible court order if they don't raise the standards of health care in the next four months.

QUOTES

"...A staph infection developed involving my colostomy bag and became so serious that a fetid odor permeated the cell and hallway. The response ... was to spray air freshener," ~Disabled Inmate Jerry Wayne Mooney 

"Poor quality care is always more expensive than high quality care.If the county were to come under a court order, this number could jump and cause havoc to the hospital's bottom line...We're in a crisis." ~Dr. Ron Anderson, Parkland's President and CEO.

"There's not even a choice in this matter, And I don't know if $20 million is even appropriate. Given what we've got to overcome, I'm more inclined to say we need $25 million."~Commissioner John Wiley Price.

"It's not going to be cheap paying to fix years of neglect and an attitude of 'let's ignore it and it will go away...That would be magical, wouldn't it? For six months we sat on a scathingly critical jail health report, which we didn't let out publicly...And after all that, nothing's been done." ~Commissioner Maurine Dickey, Former Chairwoman of Parkland's Board

"If we don't take good care of health issues in the jail, they can spill out into the rest of the community... What was done in the dark has now come to light" ~Dr. Lauren McDonald, Parkland's Board Chairwoman

No quote from Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, chairman of the commissioners' jail health care committee, available as he was in Hawaii at a conference and unavailable for comment.

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NOTE: The extra money will have to come from taxpayers as usual.  The solution is not to reduce even further the cost of medical care, the solution is to arrest fewer people.  Right now, well over 60% of all people in the system are either innocent and shouldn't be there, or non-violent or mentally ill and could be treated far better and far cheaper in non-prison environments. Just another reason why every citizen should demand that jails and prisons be used only as a last resort. People in prison should be those we have good reason to be afraid of, not those who's personal choices we disapprove of.  Kay Lee

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Jail Blues: Now's chance to fix miserable health care 09:51 AM CDT on Friday, July 15, 2005 The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston wants out as the administrator of the Dallas County jail's health services. We can't say we're sorry to see it go. DallasNews. (3K | More like this)

Dallas County jail faces fourth lawsuit By BRAD WATSON / WFAA-TV 07:07 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 5, 2005 Another lawsuit was filed against Dallas County regarding health care in its jail Tuesday. The lawsuit was filed in federal court by the family of a prisoner who killed himself while on a suicide watch. (4K | More like this)

PARKLAND HOSPITAL