Why do California state prison inmates get free health care?

Question

My friend is a nurse at a California State Prison. She says inmates are entitled to and receive free great healthcare. She says they get treated for minor knee injuries that perhaps happened to them 20 years ago when they were not in prison. They also get lots of expensive MRIs for complaints of minor aches and pain of their back. These are just examples, but that's the idea. This appalls me when victims families get no free healthcare, much less the general, tax-paying population. The State spent $3500 per person on healthcare of its employees in 2006, and $7000 per inmate, on the healthcare of its inmates!!!

Answer 1

now how would an inmate pay for healthcare?

Answer 2

it is because the california political system is run by socialists.

this kind of misuse of tax dollars has bankrupted the 5th strongest economy in the world....it is time for a change..and i don't mean a corrupt chicago politician

Answer 3

Its not only California State prisons that recieve free health care its prisons all across America!!

Answer 4

Because the liberals decided that those that commit crimes are entitled to all of things that the law-abiding have to do without if we cannot afford them.  Not only health care, but a list of luxuries as well.

Answer 5

Because while they are in custody, they do not have the option of any other health care. If something serious happened because the state did not provide health care (say paralysis, blindness, or death), the person or his heirs could sue the state for millions and probably win, and the loss to the state could far exceed the costs of providing health care.

They're looking at their bottom line and their legal liability, like any other business.

Answer 6

It's been that way in America for a long time. Thanks to the Civil Rights Movement of the 60's, we the taxpayers get to pay for everyone else. Some counties pass on the high cost of health insurance for inmates by taking it from the paychecks of their employees. Some county workers who pay part of the insurance premium are losing nearly $300.00 a month from their paycheck. The county tells the workers that they only pay 20% of the premium and the county covers the other 80% of the cost. I have never heard of health insurance coverage being over a $1,000.00 a month.  

  Next time you see one, thank the local hippies for starting this c**p we now live in. I hate the sixties and the socialist movement that started with it.

Answer 7

Because it's immoral to neglect a caged animal.

If "cost-effective" (for the taxpayer) was the measure of success, we would not be the country with the highest per-capita incarceration rate in the industrialized world.

The truth is that the model we have isn't about you sniveling taxpayers. It's about the profit model for the prison system and the many private industries that are part of the prison industrial complex getting rich off those tax dollars. It's the communist business model and it's working great - for the people who own those businesses.

Now, get back to work so you can pay us ... er pay your taxes.

Answer 8

It's because the inmates are state property.  So, while they are in custody, the state is responsible for them.

Answer 9

Contact the state DOC for the answer.