Sick Inside: Death and Neglect Inside US Jails
Al Jazeera (2020)
Film Review
This documentary is about the scandalous for-profit corporations that contract to provide prison medical services in half of US states. It focuses on two specific companies, Corizon and Naphcare. Both face thousands of lawsuits for malpractice, neglect, and wrongful injury.
These and similar companies have no incentive to offer responsible medical care to people who are locked up and don’t have the option of seeking care elsewhere. In numerous cases, the sheriffs who award the contracts have received generous campaign donations from the corporations involved.
The filmmakers interview families of three inmates who died of treatable conditions in Oregon and Nevada jails. Washo County (Nevada) jail saw a 600% increase in inmate deaths after Naphcare recently assumed responsibility for their health care delivery
The atrocious record of these for-profit health care companies has ominous implications for the anticipated spread of COVID-19 among the estimated 2 million US prisoners currently doing time.
The Most Revolutionary Act 