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 Dallas 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.
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
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
