In May 2021 BuzzFeed News published an investigation by reporter Addy Baird into the doctors who treat people held in Louisiana's state prisons. Its central finding was that most of them had a history of serious professional discipline.
What the investigation found
According to the report, 10 of the Louisiana Department of Corrections' 12 prison physicians had at some point had their medical licences restricted or suspended, including several medical directors. Reasons for discipline included illegally distributing drugs, fraud and sexual misconduct. At least three had started working in state prisons before their licences were fully restored, and one was still working under a restricted licence.
The report described how this came about. The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners allowed some doctors who were barred from most hospital work to practise in "institutional" settings, including prisons. Critics described this as a loophole that steered doctors with disciplinary records towards a population with no choice about who treats them.
The wider context
The investigation cited a 2016 review by three experts in correctional medicine, carried out for litigation, which called care at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola one of the worst they had reviewed. A federal judge later found that the department had violated the Eighth Amendment by failing to provide constitutionally adequate medical care; the state appealed.
The response
The Department of Corrections said its doctors met the medical board's standards for correctional settings and that staff provided professional and responsive care. It declined to comment on some matters because of ongoing litigation. The doctors named in the report did not respond to requests for comment.
After the report, consumer and civil rights groups called on the medical board to end the practice, and bills to improve prison medical care were introduced in the Louisiana legislature in 2022.
Why it matters
People in prison depend entirely on the state for medical care. Courts in the United States have held since the 1970s that deliberate indifference to prisoners' serious medical needs violates the Constitution. Whether a state can meet that duty while relying on doctors who are barred from treating the general public is a question about equal treatment under the law, not only about medicine.