California Female Prison Inmates Denied Access To Basic Health Care Services, Survey Says

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 12 Oct 2006 - 18:00 PDT


Some inmates at the California Institution for Women in Corona, Calif., did not receive basic health care, including Pap tests, and often had to wait several months to see a physician or receive prescription medications, according to a study released on Friday by an advocacy group for female prison inmates, the Los Angeles Times reports. Kim Carter, founder of the advocacy group Time for Change Foundation, with the help of statisticians at the Riverside County Department of Public Health in July and August 2005 interviewed women in the prison and on parole and analyzed data from both groups. The survey, titled "Invisible Bars," finds that women often missed visits with prison physicians because they could not afford the mandatory $5 copayment, the Times reports. Many women said they had never received a Pap test, and one woman said she had not received follow-up care after undergoing surgery. There also were major obstacles to enrolling in drug rehabilitation programs because the women were not eligible or the programs did not have vacancies, several respondents said. California has begun addressing many health care problems within the prison system since Carter conducted the interviews for the survey, according to the Times. CIW Warden Dawn Davison said the prison in the past few years has hired more staff to improve medical, dental and mental health care services. "We've done a lot of good things at CIW to really improve those conditions that the ladies were talking about," Davison said. Carter is advocating for a new "re-entry commission" that would keep a record of parolees in San Bernardino County, which has one of the highest number of parolees in California, according to the Times. "Right now, nobody is doing anything. This hasn't been a priority for anyone," Carter said, adding, "People tend to only want to look at the prison system itself, when the prison system is just one piece" (Reston, Los Angeles Times, 10/7).

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