Just curious. Assuming that the calories get in your meals are the extent of your intake is it possible for a longer term prisoner (say a year or more in incarceration) to be significantly obese even if they arrived that way?
Unless there were mandatory work programs, I’d guess a prisoner could stay in his cell on his bunk, coming out only at mealtimes, or otherwise stay as idle as possible.
I believe that the general population at most prisons also has access to a commissary, with various snack foods available. I’d assume these are likely to be things like doritos, twinkies, and so forth - the foods, in other words, that would help someone stay morbidly obese.
This guy couldn’t stay fat in prison so he sued them.
edit: Upon further review it was actually jail but I suppose it could still be applicable to the instant case, no?
Morbid obesity is a common problem in prisons.
Many individuals come into prison already morbidly obese, but many more pack on the pounds there, for a variety of reasons. Chief among them are: Reduced opportunity for exercise, nothing to do but sit and eat, and using food ingestion to treat unhappiness.
As a physician, I cannot put an inmate patient on a diet and force him to stay on it. They reserve the right to decline treatment, unless declining said treatment places not only them, but the security of the institution, in clear and present danger.
The latter happens when a gravely ill inmate who refuses necessary treatment is present, and the prison grapevine buzzes with the idea that “The Man” is killing him. This causes unrest inside the institution, and has resulted in hostage situations at more than one prison.
Even if those two requirements are met, I need to get a court order to force a diet on a person. So I don’t go there unless I absolutely have to.
Exceptions may occur for patients residing in the prison infirmary ward; their rights to refuse necessary dietary treatment may be slightly more constrained with a little less paperwork.
Enforcing such orders involves restricting the inmate’s access to canteen items such as ramen noodles, hormel chili, Little Debbie Zebra Cakes, Coke, etc. And those are very very popular items among my patients.
But even without canteen, an inmate can easily gain weight just by eating the food provided. In our system at least.
But they’d need to have somebody outside send them money if they aren’t working (and if they’re refusing mandatory work they wouldn’t have commissary privileges at all).
What little time I spent in the system, tells me a lot more food is provided routinely than most people should eat. For instance, at lunch once a fellow guest took 9 hot dogs.
Prison baseball team made him their bitch, did they?
But Qadgop, doesn’t it make more sense to have healthy inmates? I would think the illnesses and diseases that come with being overweight and obese would be a drain on the health system of the prison, and ultimately, the taxpayers?
It’s virtually impossible to make somebody live a healthy life. So we put good health up there with rehabilitation - we offer the opportunities and try to make prisoners accept them but ultimately the choice is theirs.
So if a guy (or gal) is fat in prison, can they get gastric bypass surgery? Not necessarily on the system’s dime, but say a spouse had the money to pay for it. Can they get it?
How would they cook noodles or chili bought outside the dining hall? Do the cells have hot plates?
Some prisons have communal kitchens on the housing units. Other places allow prisoners to own hot pots or stingers.
Pretty much no. Prisoners are wards of the state so we control their medical care. No extracurricular surgery.
or should that be:
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
This wouldn’t be like a boob job. This would be for health.
Wow. A 300lb convict complaining he’s being “starved to death”. Isn’t the world a messed up place…
I understand what the purpose of the operation is but what I said remains true. If the state decided the prisoner needed the operation for his health then the state would provide it. Otherwise, it would be considered an elective procedure and not allowed even if the prisoner was able to pay for it himself.
A prisoner is a ward of the state. He’s the legal equivalent of a minor. A fifteen year old can’t get an operation just because he can pay for it - he has to convince his parents it’s a good idea.
I know of a guard downstate in Illinois and the guard and administration’s first goal, according to him, is to eliminate violence and keep the prisoners busy. This means giving them simple things like food, and TV if it keeps their mind busy they don’t fight.
This is why guards often look the other way on drugs too, it keeps the prisoners sedated.
Conversely a new angle is for the victim to sue the person in jail in a civil court. This means any prison money he earns will go the compensate the victim, even if it’s only a dollar a week. This wouldn’t mean much to a victim’s family but it would make the criminal’s life inside even harder as he’d not have the money to buy stuff.
We provide medically necessary care. Most gastric bypass surgeries are not medically necessary. Beneficial perhaps, but not necessary. Not like cancer treatment. The guy can always eat less.
Gastric bypass is a modality that can work. But I’m not aware of any science-based evidence that shows it results in better long-term outcomes than diet and exercise. Which is a hell of a lot less risky, and cheaper to boot.