There is a very tiny town in another state that has been making international news regarding the lack of medical care being administered by the State prison complex’s and received by the inmates. While researching the demographics of Florence, Arizona, including five different prison complexes, the focus of attention will be the needs of the inmates for appropriate healthcare. This includes researching how the population of the state prisons is affecting the quality of healthcare the inmates receive, and how changes to this may increase the marketing needs for this town. The focus will be on the State Prison Complexes. However, there will be references to the demographics of the town and the three remaining complexes. The year 2010 has the population of Florence, AZ recorded at 25,536 at the Census.gov site and has the median income for the families in the community at $41,959. An income for a household in the town is recorded at $36,372 leaving more than 6% living below the poverty line. A breakdown of the population is approximately 8,000 for the town of Florence, and there is approximately an additional 17,000 inmates amongst two privately owned complexes (Correctional Corporation of America [1824 beds] and Geo Group [750 beds],) an Immigration Detention Center ran by Homeland Security(1500 beds at 95% capacity), and two State Prison complexes (Eyman and Florence.) Arizona State Prison Complex-Florence: While having the capacity to hold 3946 inmates, this facility is, as of March 16, 2012,housing 4412 inmates. In ASPC-Florence, 466 inmates over populate the complex. In just a matter of two weeks there has been an increase of 47 inmates according to the report filed on March 1, 2012. Arizona State Prison Complex-Eyman: This facility has been built to house 4544 inmates and as of March 16, 2012is housing 5046 resulting in the Eyman complex being over populated by 502inmates. On March 1, 2012, the report registered the inmate count at 5,050. This difference also includes recent inmates’ count that have been executed recently. The increase in inmate population has had such a major impact on the health care they receive that inmates are making national news regarding their illness’ being untreated, (MRSA, Cancer, Diabetes, Hepatitis C, etc.)including some fatalities. It has yet to be determined if this is due to the over population and lack of DOC officers or if it is due to lack of funding. As previously mentioned, much of the population of the town is below poverty level. The changes in population of the complexes, and the town, affect health care costs and treatments. The “why?” to this is due to the poverty level of the town and the high population of inmates, some are receiving assistance for health care from the state of Arizona, that is broke. Of course, this could also be due to the baby boomers getting older and the nurses and health care personnel getting older too. Older patients, in this age of technology, “tend to challenge the providers” (2002) and are determined to have an active role in their treatment and care. The health care personnel that are aging are retiring and leaving an “endemic shortage of nurses.”(2002) Two healthcare related challenges to the prison complex population is 1.) due to the cost of maintaining the infirmary(even for preventative care), transporting the patients slash inmates to trauma units or hospitals equipped to handle the extensive health care needs, and 2.) the aging population needing substantially more care than the facilities can afford. This significantly represents the financial state of Arizona including AHCCCS (Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System,) the state funded medical assistance program described as “medical care insurance coverage provided by AHCCCS to thousands of Arizonans each year can include physical exams, doctor’s office visits, prescriptions, immunizations, prenatal care, and hospital care,” (2012.)Unfortunately, the recipients must be disabled according to Social Security Policies and or must have a child under the age of 18 in their custody to qualify. This means, minimal to no coverage for health care for inmates. In the complexes the most common ailments appear to be related to prison life; Hepatitis C, MRSA, Cancer, Liver disease, Depression and Mental Illness.

With the strict requirements set in order to qualify for medical assistance, most of the inmates are left to their own accord in regard to payment of medical needs. For example, a tooth extraction is significantly discounted, $4.00, but there is no pain medication included in that price. Another scenario would be if the inmate resides in maximum security and is unable to “work,” he or she is responsible to come up with the funds using outside sources if there were to be an emergency. If there is none available, only in extreme circumstances will the “emergency transport” be called in. Opening a wellness center specifically for the chronic diseases that are so abundant in the Prison Facilities would be beneficial for both the inmates and the economy of the town. This would not only provide maintenance care for the ill, this would also provide much needed employment for the town. The funding could be provided by “the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010,the Department of Health and Human Services has awarded more than $9.4 million in Prevention Fund grants to Arizona and organizations in Arizona,” (2012.) The services and marketing needs for the prison complex would be to have the necessary funds appropriated to hire additional guards (DOCO or DOC) to assist in health care maintenance (transport to infirmary, or other maintenance needs) and to have the funds to provide quality care for them.
The community and society as a whole would be able to make a difference if more would petition the governor and state legislature for attention and immediate resolution to the lack of care provided. This lack of care in essence is actually costing more money due to law suits, fatalities, and the repercussions of the law suits and negative publicity. The cost of health care, the lack of health care, the lack of providers due to ageing nurses and lack of nurses being hired, low poverty levels, and the town’s economic status is preventable with a wellness center for those with chronic conditions would certainly make an impact, If even subtle.

References

All references reviewedonline on March 20-21st, 2012 at:

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/03/06/20120306arizona-inmates-

denied-adequate-medical-care-lawsuit-says.html

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/PDF/count/03012012%20count%20sheet.pdf

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.azcorrections.gov/adc/divisions/health/Health_Svcs_Division.aspx

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.cca.com/facility/florence-correctional-center/

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/businesscase/benefits/costs.html

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.city-data.com/city/Florence-Arizona.html

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_State_Prison_Complex_%E2%80%93_Florence

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence,_Arizona

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.thegeogroupinc.com/

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/2011/02/prevention/az.html

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.ice.gov/doclib/dro/facilities/pdf/flo.pdf

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/446150_2

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/arizona_assistance_programs.html

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://protectourwaterourfuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Florence-Arizona-and-Housing-

Review-and-Outlook-by-BREC.pdf

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/clinical/chronic.htm

Reviewed online on March 20-22, 2012 at

http://visitflorenceaz.com/index.shtml