Group vows to keep watch over $28M cut in Ohio inmates’ medical care

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio lawmakers are considering a budget plan that would cut about $28 million in funding for prisoner medical care by 2013, a matter being watched by a group that six years ago settled a lawsuit claiming inmates received inadequate care.

The Dayton Daily News reports Sunday that the annual medical care cost for the state’s 51,000 prisoners is about $223 million. The average spent per inmate in 2010 was $4,371, compared to $2,365 in 2001.

A legislative panel says the settlement led to 310 additional medical staff and $28 million more in annual expenses.

Attorney David Singleton of the Ohio Justice Policy Center, which filed the lawsuit, tells the Daily News that they’ll take the state back to court if budget cuts lead to care that doesn’t pass constitutional muster.