Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Judge Sanctions Idaho For Manipulating Prison Health Care Files
The Associated Press: Federal Judge Sanctions Idaho Over Prison Health Care Case
A federal judge has sanctioned Idaho for misleading the court about medical and mental health care for inmates. In the ruling handed down Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Carter said he was troubled by the degree to which employees at the Idaho State Correctional Institution manipulated medical files and took other steps to make the health care given to inmates seem better than it actually was. (Boone, 8/12)
Health News Florida: Hospital Stays Can Impact Court Fines, Fees
A Central Florida public defender called for an end to arrests for being broke. And the chief judge agrees the program needs to be evaluated, but for different reasons. Orange and Osceola County Public Defender Bob Wesley is asking the chief judge to create a commission investigating court costs, fines and collection practices. Wesley said that Tuesday morning alone, five people were arrested and brought before the court for unpaid fines – all with mental health issues. “One fellow we know because we checked him into the state hospital two weeks ago,” Wesley said at a news conference in front of the courthouse Tuesday. “His offense was panhandling. He got court costs for panhandling, now he’s back in jail for not paying the costs, and we know him to be a person who eats from garbage cans and begs for money on the street. This is not a guy who’s going to be able to pay the costs.” (Aboraya, 8/12)
Reuters: High Mental Illness Rates, Little Help For Youth In Detention
Many youth caught up in the juvenile justice system are hospitalized for mental illness because they aren’t getting psychiatric help before they’re arrested or while they’re in detention centers, a study in California suggests. From 1997 to 2011, researchers found, 63 percent of detained youth who were hospitalized had a primary diagnosis of mental health disorder, compared to 20 percent of their counterparts in the community. The detained youth were also hospitalized a day or two longer than their peers outside the justice system. (Neumann, 8/12)
