Skip to main content

Lawmakers Look to Medical Parole to Cut Prison Costs - KUHF News

As lawmakers try to trim the budget for health care for prison inmates, one bill aims to cut costs by re-examining a program that releases inmates deemed the oldest, sickest and most expensive.

...

The board’s analysis and Thompson’s bill come amid concerns about how the state will pay for health care for Texas’ roughly 150,000 prisoners. On several occasions in 2011, the University of Texas Medical Branch — which along with the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, administers health care to all TDCJ inmates, — openly considered terminating its contract because UTMB had lost roughly $50 million over two years.

Read the full story >>