State agrees to revamp prison health care
Deal will resolve lawsuit alleging inmates denied adequate treatment
Amid claims of preventable deaths and substandard medical care, state officials have agreed to a sweeping overhaul of the health care system at prisons across Illinois, according to a proposed federal consent decree filed in Chicago on Thursday.
Under the agreement, which would resolve a lengthy lawsuit challenging the quality of care in the prison system, a federal monitor would be appointed to oversee reforms including increased medical and dental staffing, proper training and qualifications for staff, and infection and quality control measures.
The class action lawsuit filed about eight years ago claimed inmates have been denied adequate medical and dental care, putting them at substantial risk of serious harm.
The Illinois Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Patty Schuh, a spokeswoman for Gov. Bruce Rauner, cautioned that the settlement is not finalized and needs court approval.
“I’m thrilled that my clients, the prisoners throughout the state of Illinois, will finally get the medical care that is constitutionally mandated,” said Alan Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center. “While Illinois has abolished the death penalty, the terrible medical care that is provided amounts to a slow-motion death penalty for far too many prisoners.”
During the legal battle, reviews by court-appointed experts in 2014 and 2018 reported pervasive problems in the health care provided in Illinois prisons. The most recent report attributed numerous preventable deaths to the poor quality of care, according to court records.
“Based on record reviews, we found that clinical care was extremely poor and resulted in preventable morbidity and mortality,” the 2018 report stated.
In one case, a 24-year-old inmate with mental illness swallowed two sporks and a nurse “documented that the patient ‘will have no complication from swallowing a foreign object,’” according to the 2018 report. Over several months, the inmate complained to several staff members and medical personnel of symptoms related to ingesting the utensils. The inmate died about three months later.
“The death was attributed to a gastrointestinal bleed from lacerations caused by a foreign body,” the 2018 report stated, noting the Corrections Department’s own review “found no problems with medical care.”
The 2014 report includes the case of a 26-year-old inmate at Illinois River Correctional Center who “repeatedly informed health care staff that he had atrial fibrillation, a fact that was confirmed by his jail records, but this history was discounted until he suffered a stroke. “Had clinical staff listened to the patient and reviewed his jail record,” the report stated, “they would have learned that he should have been on blood thinners to reduce the chances of this devastating event.”
Camille Bennett, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, in a written statement called the agreement a victory “for 40,000 men and women across Illinois who have suffered because of this inadequate health care system — some of whom have died.”
“Most important, there will now be a monitor in place to oversee the entire function of the health care system in Illinois prisons,” said Bennett, who also represents the inmates along with the law firm Dentons US. “The monitor will be there to demand improvements and accountability.”
The agreement, signed last month by Corrections Department Director John Baldwin and a legal representative of Rauner, contains specific qualifications for physicians and other providers, requires the upgrading of health care space and equipment, the hiring of staff members dedicated to infection control, the development of an electronic medical records system and the implementation of a stringent quality assurance program.
The decision comes two months after a federal judge in southern Illinois mandated that the state Corrections Department develop training on transgender issues for staff statewide, spurred by a lawsuit filed by a transgender inmate who requested to be moved to a women’s prison, alleging abuse at various men’s facilities. Corrections officials last month granted that transfer.