Meet the Company Making $1.4 Billion a Year off Sick Prisoners

Frankie Barton’s son has Hepatitis C. It’s treatable, but she says the for-profit Corizon Prison Health Management has skimped on giving him the proper treatment while he’s incarcerated. If he goes without care, he’ll develop sclerosis of the liver—a condition that can lead to death.

Frankie’s son isn’t unique. He represents Corizon’s business model: less care, higher profits. People get sicker, Corizon makes more. And somehow it’s attracting new customers. Just last week, Corizon inked a five-year, $1.2 billion contract with the state of Florida. This means that Corizon is now getting taxpayer money in 29 states. And they’re vying for more.

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Corizon has been sued 660 times for malpractice over the last half-decade. As Corizon nurse Diane Jackson said, “We save money by skipping the ambulance and taking prisoners directly to the morgue.” That’s one of the ways they generate an estimated $1.4 billion every year. As long as Corizon is motivated by its bottom line rather than the health of prisoners, there will always be a perverse incentive to not provide treatment.

Corizon is just one of the many powerful companies getting rich off mass incarceration. Our Prison Profiteers video series exposes the abusive institutions rigging the U.S. criminal justice system.

Corizon and other profiteers should not be able to get away with this. They need to know we’re watching. Join our fight against at PrisonProfiteers.org.

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