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For jail officials to be liable of "cruel and unusual punishment" under the 8th Amendment for lack of medical care, they must have "deliberate indifference to a serious medical need." Not providing detox meds like Suboxone or its equivalent probably doesn't rise to any sort of liability to jail/prison officials, but providing an inexpensive alternative may help keep the peace. As to pain meds, they would likely substitute something like Motrin for Percocet unless the condition clearly requires a powerful painkiller.
Withholding suboxone or methadone from someone could be deadly, if that person cant handle the withdrawl from those meds, and uses heroin while in jail, and dies of an overdose, the jail would be liable for that, really for 2 reasons, the withheld maintenance medication, and the drugs were obtained and used in THEIR facility.
Suboxone and methadone KEEP someone from using heroin, if that is taken away, its very likely they will seek out heroin and its during this time using dope is extremely dangerous, as their body is no longer used to heroin, so just a small amount may be enough to stop their breathing permanently.
I don't think anyone opposes this. But you have to careful with criminals. They are born liars. Just because one of the says he has a sore back doesn't make it so.
A good number are just that, I'll agree to that. The fact is unless the medication is taken out of the original containers, why would an inmate lie about what drug they are on. I'd be open with my drug testing if I ever had to **** into a cup for my job(s.)
OP: This is a really good question. I wonder how jails and prisons actually do handle inmates legitimate medical needs.
They "should" have a hospital to assess people and prescribe proper medications.
I can't even imagine how people might suffer not getting their meds.
Barbaric U.S. system which does nothing to rehabilitate people - U.S. is becoming third world country with sub-standard everything and people living on the streets. It's disgraceful.
We should make a distinction between people who are jailed because they’ve been convicted of a crime and those who are jailed awaiting trial and are thus still innocent.
We should make a distinction between people who are jailed because they’ve been convicted of a crime and those who are jailed awaiting trial and are thus still innocent.
I was mainly referring to city or local jails with this thread, where people are taken when they are first arrested for a crime. They are most certainly not treated as if they are innocent, its actually the opposite, they are treated as if they are already guilty.
First it should be noted there is a difference between jail and prison. Sex change is something of a digression from the topic.
I was jailed when my ex-husband accused me of stalking. I hadn't, but his brother was some big deal detective and had influence.
I was never asked anything about health conditions or medications at all. I was not allowed to take anything into the jail cell, they gave me a change of clothes, flip flops, I couldn't wear my bra. I am and was at the time diabetic. I have always been ADD. I do not know what my blood sugar was as I did not have a glucometer, and as I said they didn't bother to ask if I had any health needs. Stopping ADD meds abruptly causes withdrawl symptoms.
Fortunately my atty. was able to get me released within 24 hours. On my way home I stopped at the drugstore for a big bottle of RID lice shampoo.
Jails need to provide medication and medical care, something besides a trip to the emergency room when their negligence of an avoidable situation turns into the need for mandatory urgent care.
Certainly suboxone should be given. Rapid withdrawl can be life threatening. I will go as far as to say heroin addicts should be given Methadone or other medication to prevent withdrawl as it can be life threatening in this situation too.
Jail is the penalty, torture should not be part of it.
For all you hard asses who think they should not be medicated you should be aware that most addicts do not want to be addicts. Many times addicts are mentally ill to varying degrees and start using drugs as a means of self medicating. While there have been advances in medication for mental health conditions, there is still much to be improved. Schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, clinical depression, PTSD are all conditions where those afflicted tend to self medicate and end up addicted.
Certainly these people deserve compassion and the appropriate medications.
From the article “This is a terrible and inhumane result for Michelle,” said Jennifer Levi, director of the Transgender Rights Project for GLAD, the Boston group that represented Kosilek in the Supreme Court.
We have to decide if it's inhumane to deny proper medical care or not. If it's inhumane, then it was inhumane not to allow someone to have SRS if it's recommended by a doctor.
Quote:
I can't help but think about the terrible and inhumane result when he strangled his wife to death.
I think about this every time I hear about a criminal who committed a heinous crime being on dialysis, undergoing surgery for a serious condition, etc. My gut feels like they don't deserve that kind of care and consideration, but there's nothing logical about that to me. If I remove my emotions from my assessment of the situation, I agree with your last statement--
Quote:
I think jails do have a responsibility to keep an inmate healthy but if they are on illegal drugs they need to get them off of those.
First it should be noted there is a difference between jail and prison. Sex change is something of a digression from the topic.
I was jailed when my ex-husband accused me of stalking. I hadn't, but his brother was some big deal detective and had influence.
I was never asked anything about health conditions or medications at all. I was not allowed to take anything into the jail cell, they gave me a change of clothes, flip flops, I couldn't wear my bra. I am and was at the time diabetic. I have always been ADD. I do not know what my blood sugar was as I did not have a glucometer, and as I said they didn't bother to ask if I had any health needs. Stopping ADD meds abruptly causes withdrawl symptoms.
Fortunately my atty. was able to get me released within 24 hours. On my way home I stopped at the drugstore for a big bottle of RID lice shampoo.
Jails need to provide medication and medical care, something besides a trip to the emergency room when their negligence of an avoidable situation turns into the need for mandatory urgent care.
Certainly suboxone should be given. Rapid withdrawl can be life threatening. I will go as far as to say heroin addicts should be given Methadone or other medication to prevent withdrawl as it can be life threatening in this situation too.
Jail is the penalty, torture should not be part of it.
For all you hard asses who think they should not be medicated you should be aware that most addicts do not want to be addicts. Many times addicts are mentally ill to varying degrees and start using drugs as a means of self medicating. While there have been advances in medication for mental health conditions, there is still much to be improved. Schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, clinical depression, PTSD are all conditions where those afflicted tend to self medicate and end up addicted.
Certainly these people deserve compassion and the appropriate medications.
I think this happens because jail officials and law enforcement in general knows that most people coming and going from local jails is not going to know their rights when it comes to medical treatment and what the jail must provide to them, its also likely they do not have the money to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit against the jail for these kinds of things.
When you really think about it, law enforcement and jails are stuck in medieval times.
Should jails be allowed to refuse someone medicine if they are arrested?
"Arrested" doesn't mean guilty or convicted.
Those with serious needs for meds should definitely be given access to what they require. Seems that withholding meds could be a constitutional violation of "cruel and unusual punishment.
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Should jails be allowed to refuse someone medicine if they are arrested?
