Rohit Katpalia

Here's one of my most appreciated articles.

"Maintaining Health of Inmates in US Jails"

This week, Gallup released its annual survey of confidence in institutions in the United States. After the scandal over the distribution of lethal injections, and the Texas execution of a 43-year-old paraplegic, it seems that many Americans have had their faith in the legal system shaken. There’s also the sorry history of recent suicides among prison workers, including the recent deaths of two guards. Meanwhile, nationwide, almost 15 percent of prisoners have attempted suicide, a number that has grown, notably, in a few of the states with the strictest conditions for prison suicides.

Any researcher will tell you that prison health care isn’t just inadequate, it’s a disaster. But it’s not too late to remedy the problem: despite all the flaws, in many states the available health care is better than before—and in a few states, especially in the western half of the country, it is much better than before. In these locations, inmates are allowed to have (mostly) medical care on the inside, and their access to some basic necessities, like food and basic toiletries, is also greater.

No, a livable prison system shouldn’t fall into line with a much-loathed political establishment, but it certainly doesn’t have to fall into line with Donald Trump. All the federal government can do is ensure that states use federal funds to ensure inmates who are covered by Medicaid have the same care that Medicaid enrollees have.

There’s also a role for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which can offer federal oversight over states that try to privatize prisons. As an addendum, federal prisons must always adhere to state and local standards of sanitary conditions. And finally, federal law on tort law, which limits how much damage can be awarded for negligent care in prisoners’ medical cases, should be reconsidered.

Another reform that would have a big impact is implementing standards of Medicaid equalization. In the 1970s, a number of states undertook programs to transfer their Medicaid funds to prisons. But the transition was an even bigger disaster than the death penalty. In some places, Medicaid funds were so inadequate that prisoners were dying of lack of care, and in others, prisons became badly overcrowded, a problem worsened by for-profit prisons.