Study: Prison Makes You Live Longer

Hey, three hots and a cot, AND free health care, sure, I can believe it.

Perhaps one factor the death rate is worse outside prison because criminals are killing people?

Mr. Fusion (#4), I figure the next study is going to show that people in prison are also HAPPIER than those outside.

I notice that whites and Hispanics don’t fare as well as blacks…..maybe because they don’t make their shanks as well as the blacks do.

My Aunt is a prison Nurse. She is highly qualified and has worked for the prisons since the late 80″s. She said the biggest problem is getting the *house* Doctor(usually a retired physcian who dosen’t give a crap) to refer sick patients/prisoners to qualified Doctors for care. And she said good Nurses burn out quickly, mainly because of the stress(from the prison staff, not the inmates). She has lasted 20 years because she says she has put up with my Uncle for 35 years, prison guards and criminals are a snap.

Prison conditions are shameful.

My nephew has a sordid past and has spent two years in federal prison. I once chided him about “free” medical in prison and he laughed. He said the inmates fear getting sick in prison. He mentioned two deaths that occurred during his stint. One died from an absessed tooth — the contracted dentist didn’t show and they wouldn’t give him emergency treatment. The other one was lifting weights when he suddenly felt pain in his chest. He asked the guards for permission to see the doctor and they refused. He died an hour later.

Probably there’s a little sleight of hand in this comparison between prison and outside death rates.

Hardly anyone – except murderers – dies of old age in prison. Most sentences are in the nature of ten years or so. Even long term sentences usually are geared to the convict staying in prison only until he’s too old and feeble to re-offend.

Further, because prisons want to save on their health costs – even though prison medical care is already notorious low quality – they have a practice of releasing prisoners whose health problems have made them too feeble to be much of a threat to society. Once releases, his medical treatment (if any) is funded by something other than the prison budget. THe result is that most prisoners, even if their crimes were serious, becomes “civilians” in time for their deaths not to be counted as prison deaths.