The Jeff Dicks Coalition is a
non profit human rights organization dedicated
to the protection of everyone who finds themselves in prison.
Make a donation to the Jeff Dicks Coalition, the
collective voice of those fighting to stop
medical abuse in the prison system.. We need your support!
Please send your check to the address above,
or donate by using pay pal. We can't help these people
unless you help. So it's up to you if some of them live or
die. The Jeff Dicks Medical Coalition
PO Box 343, Beechgrove, TN. 37018
SPREAD THE WORD! Change is
possible, and it happens everyday! Forward this message to everyone
you know, and encourage them to join us in the fight to
make changes in the system.
We believe human rights should be
applied to all human beings, and that prisoners are sent to prison to
serve their time, and not to be abused.
The Jeff Dicks
Coalition consists of members who are committed to
making a peaceful change in the procedures that direct the actions
of those responsible for operating our courts and our State and Federal
prison systems, as well as educate everyone who are unaware of how much
inhumane treatment and abuses are being committed on prisoners.
There are many medical abuses in
the system that go beyond what many people could even imagine. Guards
making crippled inmates take top bunks, make them crawl to get their
medications and worse.
The legal reasons for providing health care to prisoners were
stipulated in the 1976 Supreme Court Estelle v. Gamble decision, in
which the Court held that deprivation of health care constituted cruel and
unusual punishment , a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the
Constitution.
This interpretation created a de facto right to health care
for all persons in custody, whether convicted (prisoners) or not (pretrial
detainees). The decision also brought forth the concept of
"deliberate indifference," a legal definition that prohibits
ignoring the plight of prisoners who need care and translates into a
mandate to provide all persons in custody with access to medical care and
a professional medical opinion. Correctional authorities and health care
professionals who infringe this right do so at their peril and may be
prosecuted in federal or state courts
Beyond the legal mandate, there are fundamental ethical reasons why
prisoners should be given medical care. Free persons may or may not have
health insurance, based, at least in part, on their decisions about how to
prioritize the use of their money. Some who decide against buying
insurance have the option to pay cash for the health services they seek.
The very poor, the aged, and the disabled are generally provided with
assistance in the form of federal and state Medicare and Medicaid
programs.
Even the so-called "working poor," loosely defined as
those who earn too much to qualify for assistance and too little to afford
to pay for health care, have the option to use or borrow cash when they
need medical treatment. Moreover, federal law requires that hospitals
provide medically necessary emergency health services regardless of a
patient's health insurance status or ability to pay.
My point is not that all U.S. residents have the resources they need to
cover their medical care; certainly many do not. My point is that
prisoners have none of the choices just enumerated. If the correctional
institution's staff denied care, the inmate would have no alternatives.
Many people are wrongly convicted and sent to prison to die, either by the
hands of guards, or by the death chambers. We believe
that all prisoners have the right to be protected by guards who take it
upon themselves to torture, rape, beat and kill those under their care.
We believe that prisoners have the right to expect medical care
when needed, and not to be denied that care or treatment because they are
locked up.
The mission of The Jeff
Dicks Coalition is to correct the abuses that we hear about in the system.
We believe it is up to us to educate the public about what is going
on behind the walls. We believe that it is up to us to speak out that
killing in the name of justice is wrong. We believe the death penalty does
not belong in a civilized society. If you believe that
prisoners should be treated humanely, and that serving time is their
punishment, join us in the fight against these injustices.
Sign up for our newsletter six times a year.
Newsletters
Sign up for the newsletter
