WBEZ Chicago — Jail and Prison Conditions — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Jail and Prison Conditions

Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.

For Some Illinois Prisoners, One Good Eye Is Enough

“It’s easy to underestimate the brutality of boredom, but people in prison will tell you that keeping your mind occupied is essential to survival. Paulette Fiedler, a 69-year-old prisoner at Logan Correctional Center in Illinois, keeps her mind alive by reading — she plows through book after book. So, Fiedler said, when she got cataracts in both eyes, she wanted them fixed as soon as possible. But the prison doctor told her that she’d have to make a choice. Which eye did she want fixed, the right one or the left one? Multiple Illinois prisoners say they have been denied eye surgery because of a “one good eye” policy that only entitles them to have one functioning eye.“

WBEZ Chicago

November 19, 2019

Prison Programs, Jail & Prison ConditionsPhillip ReevesNovember 19, 2019WBEZ Chicago, IllinoisComment

Jail and Prison Conditions

Galsworthy CJR Program

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