Prisoner Healthcare

At five North Carolina prisons, trained peer observers — incarceratedpeople themselves — provide watch and support to those in mental healthcrises at risk of taking their own lives.

Advocates hope to see the North Carolina prison system grant more medical release to ease the burden of an aging prison population and to give families time with loved ones before death.

New research released from the N.C. Department of Public Safety finds that incarcerated individuals with mental health disorders have better outcomes when placed in a Therapeutic Diversion Unit than when they are placed in restrictive housing like solitary confinement.

Andrea Circle Bear was eight months pregnant and serving a two-year sentence for a drug charge when she became the first female federal prisoner to die…

Andrea Circle Bear was eight months pregnant and serving a two-year sentence for a drug charge when she became the first female federal prisoner to die…

Is the North Carolina Department of Public Safety breaking its own rules? A 2016 policy change prohibits inmates with mental health issues from being held…

Is the North Carolina Department of Public Safety breaking its own rules? A 2016 policy change prohibits inmates with mental health issues from being held…

Staffing and safety issues inside North Carolina prisons are at a perilous point. In 2017, five corrections officers were killed in violent incidents at…

Staffing and safety issues inside North Carolina prisons are at a perilous point. In 2017, five corrections officers were killed in violent incidents at…

Increasing prison population means higher healthcare costs for taxpayers. In addition, the rising number of elderly people in prison means more chronic…