Prison agency ordered to hire more doctors

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the state Department of Corrections to hire more prison doctors within four months, saying that health care for inmates is dysfunctional and endangers their lives.

U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen also threatened $2 million in fines and found the prison agency in contempt of court.

The ruling applies to three prisons near the city of Jackson, which each house about 1,000 inmates, the agency said.

Enslen also ordered that the department hire more nurses, file a staffing plan within three months and create independent monitoring offices at the prisons to handle inmates' complaints.

He said a prisoner deserves to serve his sen- tence, not face delays in treatment.

Health care at the Jackson facilities has been under federal oversight as a result of a long-standing lawsuit by prisoners represented by the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project.

Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said he couldn't comment specifically on the ruling because state attorneys were still reviewing it. But he said that it was an "ongoing battle" to recruit and retain health care workers to work inside prisons.

Enslen said it took 40 days to test a patient with blood in his urine. Another inmate complained of a mole on his back, and despite a doctor saying it should be removed surgically, there were many delays. Later testing showed malignant melanoma and that the cancer had spread while the patient was awaiting treatment.

Last month, Enslen issued a separate decision criticizing the state's care of mentally ill inmates and ordering the state to stop using non-medical, punitive restraints on prisoners.

The judge's decision came after a 21-year-old mentally ill inmate died in August after spending four days naked inside a hot, isolated cell at the Southern Michigan Correctional Facility in Jackson. An autopsy determined the inmate, Timothy Joe Souders, died accidentally of hyperthermia and dehydration.