Costs and Punishments

I found an article called “Texans Deserve Relief from Prison Healthcare Costs” in the Austin Statesman written by the Editorial Board in an elaboration to a previous article by Mike Ward about prison healthcare cost and how it burdens tax payers. In the editorial it is argued that older low risk prisoners that require expensive healthcare treatments should be released into nursing homes because of the cost the state to harbor these people. The article goes on to give several examples of prisoners that cost the tax payers a sizable amount of tax dollars. In one case it was discovered that 10 inmates cost the state 1.9 million dollars in a single year to cover their medical costs. The article goes on to suggest the state should allow nonviolent costly offenders out of prison to help with this rising cost.

                Now, while I do agree the state of Texas puts too many people in jail for minor offences and we also spend too much money to incarcerate these people, I have to question the logic of this editorial. While I am sure that some of these people would be able to take care of themselves just fine if they were not in prison. There would also be a percentage of people that would not be able to cover the healthcare costs. After all, medical cost is the number 1 reason people are put into bankruptcy. It seems to be that this burden on the Texas taxpayer would be shifted to Medicare and Medicaid. While it certainly would help Texas’ taxpayers, it seems to be just another example of attempting to put a band-aid on an issue that is hemorrhaging.