Doing time, getting health care on your dime
18.05.12
At first glace, it looks like a hospital -- white hallways filled with wheelchairs, walkers, and dialysis machines, but the people in the building are not your average patients.
The Estelle Prison Unit in Huntsville houses the most medically-challenged inmates in the state. Some inmates suffer from chronic diseases, while others are undergoing intensive rehabilitation.
"I wasn't able to walk, move, move my hands, or nothing for about the last three months," inmate David Graves said.
He suffered a heatstroke while playing basketball at another prison facility and has just begun to regain control of his legs.
With each surgery, prescription, and treatment, inmates at the Estelle Unit and throughout the Texas prison system are racking up millions of dollars in medicals bills.
Dr. Owen Murray with the University of Texas Medical Branch oversees the prison health care system.
"Hypertension, HIV, Hepatitis C, diabetes, any patient that comes in with that as a diagnosis, or that we diagnose them with that while they're here with us, we obviously provide all the care associated," Dr. Murray said.
Source: KVUE