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To most of us, the thought of being locked up is frightening enough. But can you imagine being locked up and being a diabetic? Your blood glucose monitor, lancing pen, blood sugar logbook, and medication is taken from you. Of course, you will tell them you are a diabetic. But will they allow you to test when you need to and eat when your blood sugar is too low? What if it is too high? How long will it take to get your medication? Will someone keep the records on your blood readings while you are in prison? These are some of the questions we hope to answer in this article.
They have to take care of them – don’t they?
Every person who goes into the prison system has rights. One of those rights is the right to live a healthy life. If their life is being controlled by someone else, that person or group of people have a legal obligation to provide for their basic needs. A parent is legally responsible to provide food, clothing, and shelter to their child. The prison system is obligated by law to provide testing supplies, medications, and proper food for a diabetic inmate.
But, there is a problem. Who decides what is the required amount? Obviously, if there are 20,000 inmates with diabetes in a prison, they cannot go by their individual doctor’s advice. Instead, they are going to look at the habits of the entire group, trim it down to the bone, and try to make that work. For the “average” diabetic, with no major health concerns yet, it should hold him over until gets out of prison. But, a person with severe type 1 diabetes will be in physical trouble within hours.
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How many people are we talking about?
According to the American Diabetes Association, there are approximately 2-million prisoners in the American prison system at any given time. That would statistically give us about 80,000 diabetics in the system. When you look at the prison population on an individual basis, you discover that most prisoners are younger and have not developed diabetic-related comorbidities and complications. However, as these prisoners age, that will change. This is very serious. People with diabetes in correctional facilities should receive care that meets national standards.
Special Consideration
Of course, to give diabetic prisoners quality care, prisons would have to make changes. Guards and staff would have to be trained in all aspects of diabetes. From the early signs of the illness to standard care, to emergency situations all staff should know what they are seeing.
There would have to be extra areas and extra guards to route diabetics to blood-glucose testing areas before each meal, and a way to record those readings. Ascensia Diabetes Care is a pioneer in the field of diabetes. They are the inventors of the Bayer Glucofacts Deluxe Software Download. This is state-of-the-art software for patients and their medical professionals. It could be the building block for a larger scale system program for record-keeping.
Meal choices would have to include low carb, sugar-free selections, boiled, broiled, or baked foods, and limited fats.
Testing equipment would need to be on hand near every cell in the event that someone complains of a high or low blood sugar feeling. Medications, including insulin (fast and slow-acting) should be available with a record of the amount of insulin each person takes readily available to those in charge.
Medical check-ups
Patients with out-of-control diabetes are at risk for other health problems. These include (but are not limited to):
- Blindness
- Dental problems
- Sores that will not heal
- Neuropathy
- Kidney problems
- Poor circulation
- Heart attack
- Stroke
Patients should be able to get help with issues such as cuts, scrapes, yeast infections, and bacterial infections immediately. Staph is a major concern for the diabetic. It can grow and spread rapidly and could kill in certain situations.
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Examples of concern
The following examples are true events. We are including these as examples of the lack of training and concern for prisoners even before it is known if they are guilty of anything.
#1 – In Beatty v. Davidson, an inmate spent the night calling out vocally for insulin, but was denied any access to medication for twenty-four hours. Beatty v. Davidson, 713 F. Supp. 2d 167, 175 (W.D.N.Y. 2010). The plaintiff drank from a toilet due to severe thirst. Id. Ultimately, a doctor found the plaintiff unresponsive and hypothermic: he was hospitalized for four days due to “diabetic ketoacidosis.” Id. at 172. Therefore the court denied a motion for summary judgment by the defendant and found a material question of fact as to whether there was a deliberate difference by various correctional officers. Id.
#2 – In an even more severe case, a detainee allegedly died due to the officer’s failure to provide insulin. Egebergh, 272 F.3d at 925-28. The detainee, Fitzgibbons, was arrested for shoplifting and it was noted during his booking that he needed an evening and morning shot of insulin; his sister brought his insulin to the jail and he was given an evening shot. Id. at 927. However, despite the officers’ admitted awareness that people with diabetes can be seriously harmed by being denied insulin, the officers denied Fitzgibbons his morning insulin before his bail hearing.
This could go on and on. The fact is this. People who go to jail are still people and they deserve the same medical care that we all have access to. This is going to require training, money, and commitment, and it is the right thing to do.