Why Are So Many Inmates at This Federal Prison Dying?
Margarita Ramirez stands in front of an altar in her home that honors her son Jeffrey, who died earlier this year. He was diagnosed with cancer while in prison and died at age 41. Ariana Drehsler for NPR hide caption
Margarita Ramirez stands in front of an altar in her home that honors her son Jeffrey, who died earlier this year. He was diagnosed with cancer while in prison and died at age 41.
Ariana Drehsler for NPRClose to five thousand people have died in federal prison since 2009.
There are 100 federal prisons across the U.S. An NPR investigation found that a quarter of those deaths happened at one federal prison.
Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina.
Inmates have a constitutional right to health care. Being denied care is considered cruel and unusual punishment.
But many of the sick inmates who wind up at Butner don't get the healthcare they are entitled to – and some end up dying.
NPR's Meg Anderson tried to find out why.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Graham Smith and Brianna Scott with engineering by Stacey Abbott. Barbara Van Woerkom and Tirzah Christopher contributed research, and Nick McMillan provided data analysis. It was edited by Robert Little. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.