New York Assembly Pushes for State Oversight of Prison Health Care

On Friday, Democratic legislators and prisoner advocates promoted legislation to give the New York Health Department oversight over some aspects of the health care system for its 65,800 state prison inmates, mandating that the department assess the treatment of prisoners with HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. Corrections Commissioner Glenn Goord reports about 9,250 inmates have hepatitis C, 5,500 are HIV-positive, and more than 1,000 have AIDS.

Assembly Corrections Committee Chair Jeffrion Aubry (D-Queens) and Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan), presided over the hearing. "The Health Department has no oversight or jurisdiction over DOCS facilities, unlike its authority to monitor care at other clinics and hospitals in the state," Gottfried said. But in his testimony, Goord said the nature of health care in prison is fundamentally different than in civilian facilities regulated by the Health Department. While prison officials are in constant contact with the Health Department about inmate health, direct Health Department oversight would not be practical, Goord said. "Taken as a whole, the department is confident that its medical care system is not only fundamentally sound, but a model for correctional systems throughout the country," Goord told legislators. Prison system spokesperson James Flateau noted that the department also follows the directives of CDC and the National Institutes of Health regarding prisoner health care.

William Van Slyke, Health Department spokesperson, said his agency believes prison officials "generally do a good job" of providing health care to inmates.

But inmate advocates and former inmates complained to legislators about inadequate prison health staffing, delays in appointments, cursory examinations, and the frequent distribution of Tylenol in response to health complaints.

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