Need for more medical staff in prisons

A report issued by the Office of the Inspector General found that less than a quarter of federal prisons have adequate medical staffs. Staffing at 12 institutions are at a “crisis level” for staffing. In 2014, bureau-run prisons employed 3,215 healthcare professionals, 17 percent fewer than the Bureau of Prisons projected was necessary to “provide what it considers to be ‘ideal’ care,” the report says. These healthcare providers are taking care of some 160,000 federal inmates held in Bureau of Prisons facilities.

Two issues identified in the report as possible causes to the shortage are salaries and location. A top-earning prison-based physician earns $114,872 annually, compared with more than $180,000 for the average non-prison-based physician, the report notes. Also, prisons are often located in remote areas, forcing physicians to commute or relocate.

“Part of the struggle in California is that our prison-building program in ’80s and ’90s . . . ended up building prisons outside of urban centers,” says Joyce Hayhoe, director of legislation and communications for California Correctional Health Care Services. “So when you talk about wanting to get healthcare professionals out there, it’s difficult.”

Source: The Sacramento Bee