Report: Idaho Prison Care ‘Cruel’

An unsealed report says medical care is so poor at an Idaho prison that it amounts to neglect and cruel and unusual punishment.

Correctional health care expert Dr. Marc Stern says there have been some improvements at the Idaho State Correctional Institution near Boise. But he says terminal and long-term inmates sometimes went unfed, nursing mistakes or failure likely resulted in some deaths, and one inmate wasn’t told for seven months that he likely had cancer.

The Idaho Department of Correction and the prison health care provider, Corizon say they’re disappointed

In a news release, Corizon called the report “an incomplete, misleading and erroneous representation of the current health care delivery system. The flawed report totally undermines the hard work and trust developed between the Idaho Department of Correction, Corizon and our inmate patients.”

Stern was appointed to study the care prison near Boise as part of a long-running lawsuit brought by inmates.

Corizon said the report is likely to be misunderstood by the public as a conclusion of the court, not as an investigation.