[USA] Experts: More to prison deaths than health care / KATC3, 2007
http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=6070460
"Although more inmates die of illness in Louisiana prisons than anywhere else in the United States, more than the quality of health care figures into the equation. A Department of Justice study said that during the four years beginning in 2001, Louisiana was highest in the nation with 388 deaths from medical conditions per 100,000 inmates. Among the specific causes of inmate deaths, the state ranked first in cancer, second in AIDS, third in heart disease and fourth in liver disease. To start with, more than 11 percent of Louisiana's 27,600 inmates _ 4,100 _ are over the age of 50, said the medical director at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. "Louisiana is traditionally known to have some of the longest sentences in the nation and thus a significant elderly population," Singh said. "This study tells me we have one of the heaviest burdens in the nation because we are caring for the sickest and most elderly population in the nation."