You can't do the time, then don't do the crime.

The thing is rep...they do the crime and we pay for the time.

Whaaaaa poor Prisoners? Get real! Do the crime, pay the time.

marymac - the prison system is full of "people who are innocent". They all think they are there because they were framed, taken advantage of, or don't belong there. Come on. Compassion is when you help your neighbor lady who can't shovel out her fire hydrant. Compassion is when you help out the guy next door because he just discovered he has a tumor on his spine. Prisons are to be a deterrent and to corral all who are deviant and can't comply to the structure of laws and rules. You will be hard pressed to get even empathy out of me for prisoners. If you want a community where everybody is in love and hugging each other, go to Paris.

To the ones that dont have a clue at the RCSD it cost 2.00 per generic tylenol and Now at the dollar store that would be 100 tablets. Localboy If you dont know amyone in the system maybe you should talk with people that have friends or family there and learn a little compassion as as stated before not all people incarcerated are there for serious crimes and YES some people have done time for a crime they didnt commit i know of at least 2 personally and it was proven once they served their time. I am grateful that someone is stepping up and helping those that need it. IMO some people need to hear what they say and then put themselves in the position of a family member who has someone in prison.... IMO some people need to LEARN compassion and understanding before casting stones that may bounce back and knock them down a peg or 2!!!!!

localboy,
(Apologies in advance, I hope you don't think I'm trying to attack you. You just happen to be one of the two most prolific posters since my last post, you make some points which I agree with in part or on some level, and I think this is a genuinely interesting discussion.)
It's very easy for my gut reaction to be to agree with you. I think we have a duty, however, to try to get beyond our gut reactions when we consider the medical treatment of others.
$7.50 is a great deal on healthcare, assuming that you make more than $20/month, have access to more money, or aren't required to but basic hygienic supplies. If 376905 is correct and basic hygienic supplies must be bought out of this $20, then 37.5% of your income is a pretty steep fee.
While I'm sure that the ACLU is also concerned about committing crimes, they should not ignore what they perceive as inappropriate treatment of prisoners. The ACLU may be calling for a higher level of treatment than you would call for of prisoners (I'm sure that you and the ACLU agree that we shouldn't starve prisoners to death, for example), but that doesn't mean that they care about the victims of the prisoners.
Without proper medical treatment, prisoners not sentenced to death by the courts could be essentially sentenced to death by our prison system. Innocent people wrongly convicted by our court systems could be medically harmed by the actions of inaction of those running and working in the prison system. People who are already somewhat dangerous to society could be harmed in ways that make them more dangerous before being released back to society. None of those potential (no matter how uncommon) scenarios just aren't acceptable to me.

376905 - thank you for sharing your story. If I was in your same position, I would have done the same thing! To every situation, there is a rare deviation, and yours is it (if you are telling the truth). It doesn't change my position. By the way, $7.50 for a doctor appointment is a pretty good deal. I worked for years hard, for a major company who had good insurance and paid more than that. By the way, I am not sure what street justice you participated in, but it couldn't have been to successful if he "could be living near you".

We need to care about prisoners and prisons because most of the drug resistant diseases to emerge originated in a prison. We also need to release all non-violent offenders and require them to work to pay off any and all fines. Drug dealers should not get more time than rapists.

local boy you are right. have no right to complain about the cost of living in prison. I dont have the right to vote right now either. but i do have the right to voice my opinions. just like when ivoiced my opinion when my wife and i found out that one of my family members was molesting my 5 year old daughter. we did everything a responsible parent would have done. we reported to the police. but even though counslers and other professionals beleive beyond a doubt my daughter was telling the truth. the police did absouluty nothing. So the money that was spent on me in prison for taking care the problem. I figure that were even for the money that was spent on years of counseling my wife and i spent for my dauhgters peace of mind. So you see not every body in prion is a drug dealer or a child molester or a muder. some of them are people who couldnt get help from the people who are paid to prtect them. the person who molested my daughter was never prosecuted or even questioned. hes still living around here.but hes your peoples prblem now. beware he could be living next to you localboy.

I got a novel idea, how about the ACLU cares about people not committing crimes so they don't end up in prison? I have no sympathy for anybody in the hokey. They did something to deserve going there. Why do we waste so much time worrying about their care? Did the inmate worry about others before doing whatever they did to land them there? Probably not. If it wasn't such a nice place, people would think more often before doing the crime. People have it better in prison than they do on the outside, and I have to pay for it. I am sick of it. 376905, I hope you learned your lesson while you were in there. You have no right to complain about the costs. Who paid the rest of your stay? Do you know it takes about $25 - $30k a year to take care of you while you were in there? melstew - you should be apologizing your for son, not comments from others.

health care issues abound across all segments. the fact is money drives the issue and health care is administered from the top down. unions help provide for many who don't have a voice in what is going on, but they are not the end all. some of the best health care the taxpayer canprovide is for the public segment, i.e. government jobs. socialism is being driven by the attempt to even the playing field, or the emergency room to put it another way. the answers will play out.

The number you see to the left was my idenity for eight years. yes i was locked up for part of my life. medical attention in prison is not free. every time an inmate goes to the doctor it costs inmates 7.50. The average pay for a month is 20.00 a month. So unless you have someone on the outside helping you out finacally. that leaves 13.00 amonth to buy hiegne supplys .like toothpaste,shampoo,soap. Then with whats left over you might be able to get stamps, paper and a pen.Not everyone in prison has a hussle going on. Like extorting money from other prisoners. The equivlent of give me you milk money or else.Alot of PEOPLE in there just want to do their time come home and get on with their lives.I myself work full time , ipay my bills and my taxes. So for all the people who dont care what happens to the prisoners off this state or any other when they get out why should they care about you? think about it. To Melstew47 tell your son i said good luck and that there are people that do care. To staceyt maybe someday youll wake up and get a clue.

well miss staceyt the next time you decide to voice your loud mouth opinion, you need to think of others. maybe you have never had a family member or friend who has been in the system. and yes is the answer to your next question, i do have a family member in the prison system,my son. and i do care what happens to him and his health care! i do care if he would be given the wrong meds and so do alot of other people who have family members in correctional faciltys. not everyone in prison is there for a heinous crime, and until it happens to you, and you have to worry all the time and wonder whats going and if they are safe, you should keep your nasty comments to yourself, and im very pleased that the aclu is doing something about this. and to everyone else who had to read this rude comment that wrote to this person, i apologize.

Wow! It is nice to see a forum that is not one big negative "attackfest". I only see one such posting thus far.

I think it's appalling that anyone would suggest that prisoners are not deserving of humane treatment and necessary medical care. Anyone who does so has forgotten the lessons of history. But that's a popular pastime these days.

marymac and JohnDoe make some good points, although I would shy somewhat away from the financial one myself.
As marymac said, these people are human beings. Not giving them proper treatment isn't going to teach them a lesson about their crimes, it's going to make them more bitter about society and our legal system. That may not make them more prone to committing more crimes but it certainly isn't going to make them less. How can we ask them to respect those who are released from prison to respect the sanctity of human life when we didn't show them that respect while they were incarcerated?
What about people wrongly imprisoned? It may not be common, but it happens. Our legal system is not perfect and sometimes innocent people go to jail for hideous crimes. Should we find it acceptable that this people are not given proper medication simply because at the time we THOUGHT that they were a criminal?
Medical interactions are another issue. I have seen myself how drug interactions can change a person, in some instances making them more prone to crime. I'm not by any means excusing their crimes but do we really want to risk making people incarcerated for moderate to severe crimes worse off mentally?
Although I would hope the above are sufficient reasons to support this action, JohnDoe is correct in saying that this lawsuit may help prevent future multi-million dollar lawsuits. Some time, effort, and a little money now could help us prevent such an expensive scenario.

Regardless of why they are in prison they are human beings and should not be treated as if they are not, To all the ones who post in here the saddest thing I see is the judgemental attitudes and no one is perfect and mistakes and bad choices can affect many people,,,,, With the Economy where it is at I will not be surprised to see a substantial raise in crimes and inmate populations as Some people will risk anything to feed there children... let alone drug habits. I have not been in prison though I know a few who have and have had family members there and I dont want to see anyone not have medicine they need. If you think it cant happen to you, "well something to ponder" many people sitting in prison most likely thought that, IMO most people posting have known a person that has been in the system whether jail or prison If not IMO your world is mighty small.

Actually, the ACLU is doing the taxpayers a favor if it prevents a large payout in a lawsuit stemming from a medication screw-up.

you know people live on here negatively responding to these stories. i for one have to say that yes they are in prison but yet they dont deserve to have the wrong medications or wrong doses given to them that can harm a person faster than them not getting them at all

Wasn't it this same prison that put itself into trouble when it did not treat an inmate's asthma attack and she died?

well too bad for them they are in a maximum security prison......guess they should not do what ever it is that they did to be put in there if they are so worried about their meds!!they should feel lucky at least they have the chance to see a doctor which is more than i can say about some people that have no health coverage.Why is everyone so worried about all these prisoners who cares!!!