Medical Maltreatment in Prisons and Jails
Countless American families are dealing with the struggles of caring for an incarcerated loved one.1 Parole eligibility for DOC inmates, prosecutorial discretion with regard to charging an accused individual, and a myriad of other factors create a world of uncertainty for these families. All the while, many do everything in their power to not only make up for the lost income that was previously generated by their incarcerated family member, but also to support that person financially and emotionally during their period of detention. In short, families do everything they can to make the process as comfortable as possible, all while taking on more at home.
Despite these efforts, conditions in secured facilities are not always the way they should be. Mechanisms such as institutional grievances are available to inmates, but are typically reviewed in-house and often go unresolved. Families who are aware of the distress of an incarcerated loved one may feel compelled to advocate on their behalf. An example of this that can be particularly difficult is insufficient access to medical care.
The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution protects prisoners from cruel and unusual punishment, and the Supreme Court of the United States has determined that this can extend to the way an inmate’s medical needs are handled while he is incarcerated.2 The current state of the law, to the dismay of many families, is that treatment must fall below the standard that we use to determine medical negligence for people who are freely seeking care in the community.
The Supreme Court established that in order for medical treatment (or lack thereof) to fall into the realm of cruel and unusual punishment, an agent of the secured facility must be deliberately indifferent to the serious medical needs of an inmate. Id. In Arkansas, a medical care provider’s negligence or even gross negligence in making treatment decisions are insufficient to establish a constitutional violation.3 To the families of incarcerated people, this means that expectations must be tempered. Is it true that the Constitution protects inmates from some forms of deficient medical treatment? Yes. However, enforcing the protection may be difficult because proving deliberate indifference can be a challenge where intent to do harm is not obvious.
If you have an incarcerated loved one who has been injured as the result of the actions of a medical care provider working in a jail or prison, you need the help of an experienced attorney to determine whether you have an actionable case. Your first step should be to encourage the injured party to exhaust his remedies within the facility. This will include filing grievance forms and keeping a detailed journal of events surrounding the medical issue, including the names of providers and security staff. If medical staff has been deliberately indifferent to the serious medical needs of an incarcerated person, his constitutional protection from cruel and unusual punishment has been violated and legal action may be warranted.
1. Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities, 2019. Stating there are approximately 1.9 million people incarcerated in the United States.
2. Estelle v. Gamble :: 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
3. Langford v. Norris; 614 F.3d 445, 460 (8th Cir. 2010); Gibson v. Weber, 433 F.3d 642, 646 (8th Cir. 2006)
