Prisoners Deserve Right to Decent Medical Care While in Parish or Sheriff’s Custody; ACLU Opposes HB-845

BATON ROUGE, April 22, 2003 – The ACLU opposes House Bill 845 (Rep Martiny, R-Metairie) because it denies inmates in parish jails or prisons any effective remedy for damages caused by inadequate medical care.  The ACLU of Louisiana opposes this bill because it a) it relieves sheriffs or parishes of their obligation to make good faith decisions in hiring or to insure that the services are adequate and consistent with accepted medical standards, and b) denies the long, sad history of deliberate indifference to the medical needs of inmates in parish jails and prisons.

An inmate’s access to medical care can mean life or death.  Four inmates—JoAnn Johnson, Eddie Coleman, Ruth Ann Milazzo and Keiwine Warren—all died while in custody in Orleans Parish Prison from complications that may have been prevented with appropriate medical care.  In an extreme case, Johnson, arrested on minor charges like most arrestees, was a young mother, denied her insulin and died.  Warren was denied access to a doctor, even after he began vomiting blood.  HB-845 would unconsciously serve to shield the sheriff and the parish from accountability and liability in such cases. 

Furthermore, many of the doctors serving inmates in the jails have no insurance, so if they commit malpractice, there is no remedy even if the aggrieved inmate or his family go to court.  What about a sheriff or parish governing authority that doesn’t act in good faith and hires someone who is totally incompetent, insolvent or has engaged in misconduct in other positions?  These doctors would not be covered under State Medical Malpractice because they aren’t state employees.  This bill in effect lets the sheriff, the parish and the docs off the hook and leaves the inmate holding the bag.  That sets up an unconscionable situation that violates all semblances of substantive due process, access to the courts and equal protection.

Instead of allowing the state actors to wash their hands of meeting the already minimal deliberate indifference standard, the answer lies in 1) requiring the medical care providers to have reasonable and customary insurance coverage, 2) holding the sheriff or parish authority responsible for providing medical services adequate for the population consistent with accepted medical standards, and 3) making sure that the hiring authority exercises due diligence in hiring and background checks of medical personnel. 

HB 845 allows parish police and sheriff departments throughout the state to shirk their good faith responsibility to prisoners. Under this bill, they may contract medical services to the cheapest health service provider, or the one that provides the fewest services. Many of the doctors contracted out from the law enforcement agencies have no insurance, so there is no remedy to a medical malpractice suit. This is of great detriment to the affected inmates who would be more likely to receive inadequate care, or even be denied care for various ailments.

The ACLU, since 1969, and its National Prison Project (ACLU-NPP), since 1979, has had the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) in litigation over cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment of inmates in its care. This has amounted to "unquestioned and serious deprivations of basic human needs" and/or "the minimal civilized measures of life’s necessities," as defined by the US Supreme Court. In pursuing a minimal level of care at OPP, the ACLU has tried to prevent a tragedy such as the death of arrestee JoAnn Johnson, a brittle diabetic, on April 6, 1999.

After interviewing over 100 women in OPP regarding medical care and conditions of confinement, the ACLU-NPP on December 8, 1998, filed a motion for emergency relief and enforcement of agreed entry on medical care provisions governing women’s OB/GYN and prenatal care and the environmental consent decree and for a hearing. The ACLU found evidence of the following violations, which taken together "threaten the lives of women prisoners and their fetuses:"· Chronic and acute gynecological conditions such as ovarian cysts and vaginal discharge go untreated;  Deputies tell pregnant women that they cannot go to the hospital to deliver their babies until 1)their water breaks; 2)they suffer heavy bleeding; or 3)the baby’s head emerges. 

Surely, the committee and the legislature does not want to shield the doctors and the state from such abuse and neglect as that documented in the case styled Hamilton v. Morial against Orleans Parish Prison.  The loss of one’s liberty is punishment and suffering enough; anything beyond that is cruel and unusual.  The ACLU of Louisiana urges members of the committee to be compassionate towards its prisoners and to protect their constitutional rights as they would their own.  Vote against HB 845.