In a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, Wisconsin must ante up and foot the bill to offer female prisoners the same type of health care and mental health services that men receive, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday. http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/101013499.html
The case will cost Wisconsin “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to the newspaper. The settlement of the federal litigation, filed by the ACLU against the state Department of Corrections, is expected to be filed Friday.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 700 women prisoners doing time at the the Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac.
Under the settlement, the prison will have a full-time family practice doctor on staff at $195,000 a year. Currently, the prison only has a part-time physician, according to the Journal Sentinel.
The corrections department will also have to bring in a consultant to recommend improvements to the prison’s health care and psychiatric services. That consultant is also in charge of making sure that Taycheedah implements those changes.
Finally, the prison must build new therapy facilities and a center for inmates with serious mental health problems. Those facilities must be ready and in use by June 1, 2012.
