Prison & Jail Health Care  /  Death Consulting for Families

Consultants to families of inmates regarding inmate health care and in-custody deaths

It becomes necessary for families to understand that when they have a loved one incarcerated it is their responsibility to understand how that system operates—not how they believe it operates but how it actually operates on a higher level other than what an inmate-patient is stating to them

The Institute consults one-on-one with families educating them on the mechanics of the systems involved and how those systems are set-up and interact one with the other and what they should be doing and not doing. It is their responsibility to have key documents in place—but not just any documents, and to understand what preparations should be made and in place if /when death occurs. Cause and manner of death most oftentimes are not accurately assessed; what one actually dies of is not researched, documented or investigated.

There are countless numbers of inmate-patients who incur permanent medical disabilities or die due to cost containment measures.

For example:

  • Broken bones are ignored and not set
  • Stage IV wounds are not treated
  • Diabetes is grossly mismanaged
  • Heart conditions are treated with Maalox
  • Cancers are treated with Robitussin
  • Amputations are performed due to gangrene
  • Medications are withheld
  • Wrong medications are given
  • Blindness results due to untreated brain tumors
  • Asthma becomes a death sentence
  • Staph infections are treated as the flu
  • Mental heath drugs are denied to punish behavior; behavior that results from withheld medications—the very medications needed to control behavior being punished
  • Death certificate cause and manner of death are not accurately assessed
  • Sub-standard, state ordered autopsies are the norm not the exception
Families must have the tools in place to keep inmate loved ones healthy & alive

Families are overmatched and under-gunned by a system that feeds off of their continued ignorance due to a lack of knowledge, understanding and follow-through.  The common denominator running through every jail and prison health care problem and death is the ignorance of families on how to handle health care problems that may not be adequately addressed and equally ignorant on the issues surrounding a death—be it death investigations, disposition of dead bodies and who controls the deceased.