There have been numerous news articles here lately about the tax payers dollars being used for inmates medical care. Let me see if I get this. Someone goes out and robs, rapes and kills an innocent child. They get caught and are ordered to serve jail time. During this jail time they become sick with pneumonia and the prison sends them to the hospital. They stay there for days and get treated, become better and go back to jail. Then the hospital sues the jail for the medical expenses. The jail in turn uses the tax payers money to pay these expenses. This really upsets me because when I had pneumonia I missed 5 weeks of income from not working because I couldn't afford the expenses to become admitted to the hospital. I finally do go back to work and have to use my tax dollars to pay for someone who I don't know to become well because they committed a crime. This does not stop at medical, prisoners are eating better than a lot of people. Sure the food may not be great, but it is food. Something is wrong here. If anyone agrees or disagrees let me know.
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While I do think that the prison system needs to be reformed, I don't think the answer to that is treating these criminals inhumanely. They're still human.
~C
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One of the biggest problems that I have with this is that the government is paying for criminal’s healthcare and denying healthcare to individuals who haven't broken the law and need it.
I think the healthcare system needs a complete overhaul as well. Things need reform all around.
~C
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I do not think the government has resposibility over the free person's healthcare...yet. I would not think of it as criminals getting a free ride to health. I think of it is keeping an outbreak or pandemic from occuring.
Pneumonia can be contagious. Prison systems have a variety of tenants from those who are in for a small while, to lifers, to guards. These people live in close quarters which makes disease spread quick and wide. If they were to let the less worthy one become ill they could spread it to the short timers and workers who would in turn bring it out to the free people. Basically we are not taking care of them, but our selves.
I say take care of the one so we do not have to pay for the major expense of the whole prison and the total population healthy.
~T
A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins. ~Benjamin Franklin
I understand what you are saying and thanks for the comment, however I do believe that they waive their right to be treated in a humane manner when they committed the crime.
As someone living in a nation founded on respect for human rights, I find that line of thinking more than a little disturbing.
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I do believe in respect for human rights, but one has to respect the laws and respect human life to have their rights respected. Thanks for your comment.
Please use the reply button to respond to comments. It makes conversation flow a lot better.
When someone disrespects the human rights of someone out of spite, it makes him/her no better than the original offender. Men and women do not cease to be human beings when they step into a prison, and citizens of a moral society should be able to recognize this. If someone is incapable of allowing someone a minimal amount of dignity, they shouldn't be working at a prison.
The purpose of a prison is not to dehumanize an individual even more than they have already dehumanized themselves. The purpose is for punishment, reformation, and reintegration into society.
Treating someone like dirt for 5-25 years and then throwing them back into the world hardly seems like it would prevent them from committing more crimes, and it doesn't. Rehabilitation, not dehumanization, is a large factor in making sure people do not revert back to criminal activity.
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Please use the reply link when responding to a comment. It keeps the flow of conversation neater.
And I disagree with you. Just because these people committed a crime does not mean that they have given up their rights as human beings. We are a nation that values human rights, and we should not take them (all) away just because someone has committed a crime. These people should be given food and water and basic healthcare. Of course, in return, they should be working for their keep, just like everyone else in the US does.
We do take away rights when people go to prison. They lose their right to freedom, which is one of the things our country values above all else. But, they should not lose their rights for food and water, and healthcare. Would we want out citizens (who commit crimes) overseas to be treated less than humanely? Would there not be an outcry if they were treated less than humanely? Why, then should we not treat our own criminals in such a way?
~C
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If the criminals are entitled to basic healthcare for free, then why does basic healthcare cost the noncriminal $65 for a visit and more for treatment.
I don't think she is saying they should get free healthcare necessarily, simply that we have a responsibility to treat them humanely. As sawaboof pointed out, prisoners should be required to work for what they receive, the same as the rest of the population. If that were the case more often than it is, quite a lot of taxpayer money could be saved, eliminating the aggravation that those taxpayers feel when they can't afford their own medical expenses but are paying for those of someone else.
The penal system is in dire need of reform in many different ways. Unfortunately, we're too busy griping about how that reform should happen to really attempt to put any of our ideas into practice. It's easier to gripe about what doesn't work or what isn't fair than it is to do something to change it. Until we change the way we approach these issues... not much is going to be resolved.
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That does not equal free basic healthcare. They just don't end up with any spending money, whereas someone with a paycheck might.
~C
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That is the problem. They don't have to work for their healthcare. I completely agree with you they should have to work for their keep. But they don't we have to work for their keep. You have made very good points and I guess I should aim my disgust towards the government and the prison itself. Thank you for your comments.
On the other hand I think it is good that we work for their keep a little since the other option is to not have them kept. We have have and pay for the system for our safty and for humane reasons.
Just a passing thought.
~T
A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins. ~Benjamin Franklin
Perhaps prisoners could work on government projects that would benefit the taxpayers. That way, there would at least be an exchange.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tricia0711