[ad_1]<\/p>\n
The Louisiana Legislature will consider two bills this session that seek to address the troubled state of health care in Louisiana prisons. One, House Bill 175, would eliminate co-pays for incarcerated people, and another, House Bill 517, would create an medical advisory council that would approve health care policies for the Department of Public Safety and Corrections and the hiring of a prison medical director, among other things.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Health care in Louisiana\u2019s prisons is in high demand, in part due to an aging population, but the state has long been criticized for not providing access to adequate care for people in their custody.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to a 2021 report on the adequacy of health care<\/a> in Louisiana prisons produced by Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, LSU Health, and nonprofit group Voice of the Experienced, a majority of prisoners \u2014 between 58 percent and 95 percent depending on the facility \u2014 in the state take medication. Forty percent of incarcerated individuals in Louisiana have experienced mental illness, and 20 percent have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia,\u00a0<\/p>\n Last\u00a0 year, a federal judge ruled <\/a>that the state\u2019s largest prison, Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, was \u201cdeliberately indifferent to the inmates\u2019 serious medical needs,\u201d and was in violation of the Eighth Amendment\u2019s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n In another lawsuit, against David Wade Correctional Center, the plaintiffs claim <\/a>that conditions and lack of mental health care for people held in restrictive housing at the facility \u2014\u00a0which means being locked in their cell for up to 23 hours a day \u2014\u00a0cause them to further deteriorate, and can lead to self-harm and further disciplinary action. Lawyers for the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections argue that mental health care at the facility is constitutionally sufficient. A multi-week trial in the case concluded last month. <\/p>\n Some of those issues, critics say, stem from a lack of leadership and oversight. And the bill to create a medical advisory council<\/a>, brought by Representative Larry Selders, Democrat of Baton Rouge, aims to address that.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the Angola lawsuit, federal Judge Shelly Dick found that both at the Department of Corrections and from the medical director at Angola at the time \u2014\u00a0Dr. Randy Lavespere \u2014 failed to ensure that people in custody were being given adequate health care.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no evidence of medical supervision by the DOC central office,\u201d Dick wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe buck stopped with Dr. Lavespere, and his medical supervision and quality review was woefully inadequate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But Lavespere has since been promoted from medical director at LSP to overseeing health care throughout the entirety of the Louisiana prison system following the resignation in 2020 of Dr. John Morrison<\/a>, who previously held the position.<\/p>\n Like many doctors working in Louisiana prisons, Lavespere was able to work behind bars despite having a suspended medical license.\u00a0 Due to a provision in the The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, doctors who have been barred from practicing in many hospital settings can still work at institutional settings<\/a> \u2014\u00a0such as prisons.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lavespere had his medical license revoked following a 2006 conviction for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, for which he served time in federal prison. But in 2009, he was placed on \u201cindefinite probation,\u201d which only allowed him to practice medicine in institutional settings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The medical advisory council\u2019s role in approving a prison medical director in the future would help to ensure a qualified candidate was selected, said Bruce Reilly, deputy director of Voice of the Experienced, who worked on the legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reilly said that provision of health care in the prison system should ideally function like a \u201cseries of community clinics,\u201d and he has concerns that Lavespere and others who have served in leadership roles administering health care at the Department of Corrections would not have been considered qualified for such a positions outside of the prison setting.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it was running like a series of community clinics, would they even have a shot?\u201d Reilly said. Would they even get an interview? Or are they just a person with an MD?\u201d<\/p>\n The council, according to the proposed legislation, would consist of representatives of various medical fields, along with the deans of Tulane and LSU medical schools or their designees, the dean of Xavier University College of Pharmacy or their designee, and the Director of the Louisiana Department of Health, or their designee.\u00a0<\/p>\n The council would also have an advise and consent role in approving DOC medical policies, post-mortem reviews, the establishment of an electronic medical records system, and any other \u201creasonably related responsibilities of institutional oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety and Corrections did not respond to requests for comment on any of the prison health care legislation that is up during the current session.\u00a0<\/p>\nBill seeks to eliminate prison medical debt<\/strong><\/h4>\n