On 7/12/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A Billion Dollar Empire Profiting on the Misery of Sick PrisonersI keep recalling those days during and following the Second World War,
By John Kiriakou, Reader Supported News
12 July 18
Illinois's Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, has made good money from his
investments this year, according to his most recent "statement of economic
interests." Much of Rauner's money comes from investments in a "health care
company" called Correct Care Solutions, a group that provides healthcare
services in mental hospitals, prisons, jails, detention centers, and ICE
deportation facilities across the country. The company reports revenues of
$1.2 billion a year, almost every cent of which is taxpayer money.
Rauner's investment means that he's making money off of human misery; he
thus has a vested interest in locking up as many people - the mentally ill,
undocumented migrants, victims of the "war on drugs" - or anybody else - as
possible. The more people in lockup, the more money Correct Care Solutions
makes. It's a clear conflict of interest.
I've written previously about my own experience with prison healthcare. For
all intents and purposes, there isn't any. There isn't any beyond the most
basic, anyway. The only way companies like Correct Care make money is to
provide as little care as possible. No expensive medicines are prescribed,
necessary tests are postponed or not approved in the first place, and
Tylenol is the drug of choice for nearly every malady in prison. I
personally know one prisoner who suffered from hepatitis C. He was actually
released from prison early because Correct Care didn't want to give him
medication that would cure his disease, but which cost $1,000 a week. I
personally knew four prisoners who died of preventable diseases in prison
because the administration didn't want to pay for tests or treatment. It's
all about the money.
I'm not going to rehash my beefs with the American prison system. Instead,
I
want to point out a troubling and dangerous new development. An alarming
trend has emerged that indicates that Correct Care, the same company that
built a billion-dollar empire profiting on the misery of sick prisoners,
the
same company that Governor Bruce Rauner has invested in, is now rebranding
itself as the go-to healthcare company for mental hospitals, civil
commitment centers, and ICE detention facilities. Expansion into these
areas
would guarantee the lifelong profitability of the company. It's a new
market
for the likes of Correct Care. And it will make a lot of people rich.
The real long-term growth market for Correct Care is in mental health
facilities. More mentally ill Americans are held in prisons than in mental
facilities. That's a sick fact, no pun intended. Correct Care saw the trend
and wanted to get in on the action. While overall incarceration rates
around
the country fell during the Obama administration, incarceration rates for
the mentally ill rose steadily. This presented an opportunity for
profiteering. So what did Correct Care do? It changed its corporate
structure to that of a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and began buying
halfway houses and "correctional treatment centers." And they spent
millions
of dollars to lobby politicians in Washington.
Florida is a good example of what has happened on Correct Care's watch. The
company runs three of Florida's six state hospitals for the criminally
insane. In a recent joint investigation done by the Tampa Bay Times and the
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, reporters found evidence of roach infestation and
sexual abuse of prisoners. They wrote that "patients didn't have enough
food
to eat and were picking through trash cans for their meals." The reporters
deemed the facilities "torture chambers" and called for an FBI
investigation. And instead of trying to correct the problems, the state of
Florida cut the state hospital budget by $100 million and Correct Care cut
staffing by a third. The state responded by relaxing the definition of a
"violent attack" to make the numbers appear as if there had been no change
to the status quo after the cuts.
The solution here really isn't that difficult. It's all about money and
political commitment. The mentally ill, if they are not violent, should be
in hospitals, not in prisons and jails. Even those mentally ill people who
are violent shouldn't be in for-profit facilities. It's the profit motive
that dooms the entire system.
I get that we're a capitalist country. I get that most Americans want to
make a profit on everything and watch their money grow. But this is one
case
where only a heavily-regulated mental health industry with strong
government
oversight can work to treat people and keep them safe. In terms of the
national mood, though, we just aren't there yet.
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