Should Prisoners Have Health Care Essay

The United States incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world (Wilper et al., 2009). Research indicates that the United States prison population has reached an all-time high (Wilper et al., 2009). In 2012 alone, 1 in every 35 adults were in either jail or prison (Aufderheide, 2014). According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the highest number of inmates to date are incarcerated for drug offenses. Although, prisoners may have committed crimes, prisoners have constitutional rights. One of prisoners’ constitutional rights is health care. Some people do not elicit any compassion for prisoners, and believe that they do not deserve health care. Although, prisoners may have made mistakes, prisoners deserve health care due to the prevalence of mental, and chronic …show more content…
The Court decided that no health care in a prison setting was cruel and unusual punishment, which is a violation of the Eight Amendment (Paris, 2008). Prisoners are legally able to ask for medical attention at any time. If police officers or health care professionals deny this right, then they will be held accountable and prosecuted in federal courts (Paris, 2008). The social reasons why prisoners deserve health care is to preserve their physical functioning, and appropriate preventive health care could have long lasting benefits after incarceration (Paris, 2008). Research indicates that more than 95% of all prisoners return to their respective communities, and good health is very important for establishing housing, employment, and a support system (Ahalt et al., 2014).The public health reasons why prisoners deserve health care is due to the statistically high rates of health problems associated with risk taking (Paris, 2008). Prisoners deserve health care because it’s there constitutional right. Some prisoners need health care because he or she may have chronic illnesses or mental health