Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Prescient 2006 Report Warning Of Prison Health Problems Was Buried With 'Top-Drawer Veto'
The surgeon general report was a call to action for the government to address substance abuse and mental illness within the prison systems -- problems that are now in full bloom throughout the country.
A government report, blocked from publication a decade ago, presciently warned of an advancing, double-barreled health crisis of mental illness and substance abuse that has currently swamped the nation鈥檚 vast prison systems. The 2006 document, prepared by then-Surgeon General Richard Carmona, urged government and community leaders to formulate a treatment strategy for thousands of sick and addicted inmates that also would assist them after release or risk worsening public health care burdens. (Johnson, 5/19)
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