Two weeks ago, a doctor’s report on health care at Idaho’s largest and oldest prison found “serious problems.” The state Attorney General’s Office responded Friday in a 37-page legal document.
Dr. Marc Stern, in his report on medical care at the Idaho State Correctional Institution, wrote that “authorities are deliberately indifferent to the serious health care needs” of inmates. Lawyers at the Idaho Attorney General’s Office say that none of the information in Dr. Stern’s report shows evidence of harm to a patient as the result of a “denial, delay or intentional interference with medical treatment.” And that health and mental care at the prison is “constitutionally adequate.”
The original case started thirty years ago when inmates at the prison said they were denied adequate security, food, clothing, and health care. They say medical treatment still falls short. Federal Judge Lynn Winmill unsealed Dr. Stern’s report in March in an effort to close this longstanding case.
Copyright 2012 Boise State Public Radio