Prison Medical Neglect Should Outrage Us All

Reform begins when we demand accountability from medical staff in prisons. There must be more thorough oversight and a stronger enforcement of higher medical standards. Legislation should reflect that health care is a human right, not a privilege.

As I sat in a local hospital emergency room with my dad who had just taken a fall, I was surrounded by medical personnel and high-tech medical equipment. Thankfully, my dad only needed care for a few scrapes after he was neurologically evaluated and cleared. Although the injury ended up being minor, the luxury of an in-depth health screening stood in sore juxtaposition to the medical treatment of my own incarcerated clients, who are rarely, if ever, afforded such care.

Scott is a client who is serving a short sentence for a DUI conviction in a Pennsylvania state correctional institution. He suffered a stroke in the medical department, while actively with the nurse tasked with caring for him.

This nurse, as opposed to providing quick appropriate medical intervention for which she was trained, contacted the off-site medical director, who told the nurse that he would see the patient in the morning, and the nurse then told Scott to go back to his cell.

Once back in his cell, he suffered multiple additional strokes, which the nurse was made aware of and told the concerned guards who observed Scott's serious life-threatening medical condition, that Scott would have to wait to see the doctor in the morning, resulting in his paralysis and inability to speak. The unnecessary medical neglect by this nurse and doctor led to severe pain and suffering, as well as numerous months in a rehab facility.

Paul, unable to make bail, was incarcerated in a local county jail in Pennsylvania after an arrest for a domestic assault. Prior to his incarceration, Paul suffered from PTSD that was a result of his military service. He was under the care of a psychiatrist who prescribed numerous medications to treat his diagnoses. When Paul became incarcerated, he informed the medical and prison personnel that he urgently needed his psychiatric medications. Medical staff refused Paul his medication.

Stopping psychiatric medications cold turkey is, both physically and mentally, extremely dangerous and unadvised by medical professionals. The sudden stop caused Paul to experience seizures and severe withdrawal symptoms during his 10-day stay in the jail. It was only due to the prosecutor directly observing him experiencing seizures and withdrawal symptoms in front of her about 10 days later that prompted his release and subsequent hospitalization. Here, he was weaned back on to all his medications. Even a single day of medical neglect can cause severe complications, but Paul's 10 days of neglect proved to be fatal. Only a few days after his release, Paul took his own life by suicide in front of his family.

John, who is serving a sentence in a state prison, suffered from pain in his groin area which continued to worsen over time. When he went to the medical department for treatment, the physician's assistant on duty misdiagnosed him with a hernia and, consequently, repeatedly sent him back to his cell. As the pain got worse, and a fever developed. John kept reaching out for help, at which time the physician's assistant got angry at him and told him to "toughen up." They refused to send him to the hospital, and the delay of medical intervention caused him to develop sepsis.

Once septic and finally taken to the hospital for medical treatment, John's infection had reached a life-threatening level. He was subject to two long hospital stays and multiple surgeries. The ordeal not only caused John severe pain, distress and long hospital stays, but permanent scarring from the invasive surgery and PTSD.

These cases are tragically far from unique. They represent only a small window into the thousands of men and women across Pennsylvania-and the country-who suffer from preventable pain, illness, and even death because of medical neglect and abuse at the hands of jail and prison medical staff. This treatment is not just morally wrong; it is a blatant violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The system continues to operate in ways that deny incarcerated people the basic medical care that every human being deserves.

As taxpayers, every dollar spent on neglectful or abusive prison medical systems is a dollar that pays for suffering, for avoidable trauma, and for lives permanently damaged or lost. The people enduring this neglect are not statistics or faceless offenders; they are sons, daughters, parents, veterans, neighbors, and community members. They are human beings. Their incarceration does not strip them of their right to dignity, health, and humane treatment.

I continue to ask: why do we accept a system that inflicts harm instead of providing care? Why is it tolerable for the state to turn its back on medical ethics when the people in need happen to be behind prison walls? Until we collectively confront these questions, the cycle of neglect and abuse will continue.

Reform begins when we demand accountability from medical staff in prisons. There must be more thorough oversight and a stronger enforcement of higher medical standards. Legislation should reflect that health care is a human right, not a privilege. Taxpayer money should be directed toward physical and mental health treatment that fosters rehabilitation instead of perpetuating the cycle of neglect and abuse. Outrage is necessary; these individuals are no different than us and our loved ones.

I will keep telling these stories-of Scott, Paul, John, and countless others-so that their voices are not silenced by concrete walls and locked doors. My hope is that by shining light on this abuse, we can move, step by step, toward a system that treats incarcerated people as what they are: people. People who, like my father in the emergency room that day, deserve timely, compassionate, and competent medical care.
 
Laurie Jubelirer is the owner of Jubelirer Law, and her law practice in Montgomery County is devoted to helping individuals facing criminal charges and violations of their civil rights. She is active in promoting criminal justice reform via writing and speaking, including appearances on podcasts and through her own podcast, "Voices of the System," which is launching in late 2025.