密西西比州议员们在联合听证会上听取了关于州立监狱医疗不足的令人震惊的证词。他们质询了州立监狱医疗承包商VitalCore Health Strategies的首席执行官，内容涉及可预防的死亡和疾病。
Mississippi lawmakers have heard shocking testimony about inadequate healthcare in state prisons. During a joint hearing, they questioned the CEO of the prison medical contractor, VitalCore Health Strategies, about preventable deaths and illnesses.
来自密西西比今日的迈克尔·戈德伯格、格温·迪尔沃思报道：从因糖尿病导致截肢的囚犯，到母亲为帮助服刑的儿子缓解 debilitating 疼痛而采取绝望措施，密西西比州议员们在周四的超过三小时的联合听证会上听到了关于州立监狱医疗不足的惊人证词。
MICHAEL GOLDBERG, GWEN DILWORTH/Mississippi Today From prisoners suffering amputations due to diabetes to a mother taking desperate measures to help her incarcerated son treat his debilitating pain, Mississippi lawmakers on Thursday heard stunning testimony in a more than three-hour hearing about inadequate healthcare in state prisons.
主持众议院和参议院公共卫生与矫正委员会联合会议的议员们向密西西比州监狱医疗承包商、总部位于堪萨斯州的VitalCore Health Strategies首席执行官提出了质询，内容涉及系统性未能阻止可预防死亡和疾病的指控。他们的提问源自选民、记者以及立法监督报告中反复出现的故事。
Lawmakers presiding over a joint meeting of the House and Senate Public Health and Corrections committees peppered the CEO of Mississippi’s prison medical contractor, Kansas-based VitalCore Health Strategies, with questions about allegations of systemic failure to stop preventable deaths and illness. Their questions stemmed from stories that have poured in from their constituents, journalists and legislative watchdog reports.
议员们还谴责了密西西比州矫正部门在听证会上的缺席，尽管他们曾致信该机构，敦促官员出席。
Lawmakers also condemned the absence of the Mississippi Department of Corrections at the hearing, despite having sent the agency a letter urging its officials to attend.
此次听证会是在密西西比今日《Behind Bars, Beyond Care》系列报道之后举行的，该系列报道记录了可能有数千名囚犯未接受丙肝治疗，以及其他人难以获得癌症筛查的情况。该系列报道还记录了众多所谓的忽视案例，包括因护理延误导致囚犯死亡、未治疗的骨折手臂导致截肢，以及监狱官员表达对囚犯腐烂腿部未获治疗的震惊。
The hearing came after Mississippi Today’s Behind Bars, Beyond Care series documented potentially thousands of prisoners with untreated hepatitis C and others having trouble getting cancer screenings. The series documented numerous cases of alleged neglect, including delayed care of an inmate leading to death a prisoner’s untreated broken arm forcing an amputation and prison officials communicating their dismay at an inmate’s rotting leg going untreated.
议员们在布鲁克黑文的共和党众议员、众议院矫正委员会主席贝基·柯里的带领下，今年早些时候曾提出多项措施以改善监狱医疗并建立更强有力的防护措施，以防止医疗被拒绝，但大多数提出的改革方案最终未获通过。
Lawmakers, led by House Corrections Chairwoman Becky Currie, a Republican from Brookhaven, proposed several measures earlier this year to improve prison healthcare and create stronger safeguards against the denial of care, but most of the proposed reforms died.
周四的听证会聚焦于法案试图纠正的一些问题，立法者们预计将在明年提出更多改革方案，以应对该州监狱医疗系统陷入困境且成本高昂的情况。周四，立法者们听取了以下内容：癌症诊断和治疗的令人担忧的延迟劳雷尔南中央地区医学中心的肿瘤学家雅各布·格雷厄姆博士表示，他对其在MDOC设施中被监禁的患者所面临的诊断和治疗的显著延迟感到震惊。
The Thursday hearing centered on some of the problems the bills sought to correct as lawmakers expect to propose more reforms for the state’s troubled and expensive prison healthcare system next year. Lawmakers on Thursday heard about: Alarming delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment Dr. Jacob Graham, an oncologist at South Central Regional Medical Center in Laurel, said he has been alarmed by the significant delays in diagnosis and treatment faced by his patients who are incarcerated in MDOC facilities.
他描述的一位患者直到癌症已扩散至骨骼并导致脊髓受压引起下半身永久性瘫痪时，才被诊断出患有前列腺癌。
One patient he described did not receive a prostate cancer diagnosis until the disease spread to his bones and caused permanent paralysis of his lower body due to compression of the spinal cord.
另一位患者在血液检测显示一种用于筛查癌症的蛋白质水平危险升高后，竟等待了近一年才接受前列腺癌治疗。2025年秋季的检测显示其前列腺特异性抗原（PSA）达到60 — — 远高于正常范围的0到4 — — 但直到2026年4月才进行活检，直至2026年8月才开始治疗。格雷厄姆表示，尽管治疗延迟严重，癌症未发生转移“简直是个奇迹”。
Another waited nearly a year to receive prostate cancer treatment after a blood test showed dangerously high levels of a protein measured to screen for the disease. The test in fall of 2025 showed a prostate-specific antigen of 60 — significantly higher than the normal range of zero to four — but he did not receive a biopsy until April 2026, and did not begin treatment until August. Graham said it was “miraculous” the cancer had not metastasized in spite of the significant treatment delay.
另一位患者肺癌已扩散至全身，在密西西比大学医学中心接受治疗后，医生预测其仅剩数周至几个月生命。但监狱医务人员未按医嘱在一周内安排他前往当地肿瘤科医生处就诊，导致他在病情恶化的情况下被迫等待超过一个月才接受随访护理。随后，由于护理延迟引发的并发症，他再次住院。肢体截肢和前往Motel 6的旅程多名州立法者转述了选民的故事：这些选民因在监狱中糖尿病未得到治疗而导致肢体截肢。
Yet another patient with lung cancer that had spread throughout his body received treatment at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and a dire prognosis of weeks to a few months to live. But prison medical staff did not arrange for him to visit a local oncologist within a week as ordered, leaving him to languish for over a month before receiving follow-up care as his condition deteriorated. He was then hospitalized again due to complications associated with the delays in care. Limb amputations and trip to a Motel 6 Multiple state lawmakers relayed stories of constituents who suffered amputations due to untreated diabetes in prison.
糖尿病导致的肢体截肢是一种严重并发症，但根据疾病控制与预防中心的说法，大多数糖尿病相关截肢是可以预防的。
Limb amputations are a serious complication of diabetes, though a majority of diabetes-related amputations are preventable according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
来自卢西代尔的共和党众议员埃利奥特·伯奇作证称，一年半前他接到一个电话，告知他一名选民因严重健康问题被从监狱释放到杰克逊州际55号公路旁的一家汽车旅馆，尽管密西西比州矫正部此前曾告诉该选民的家人，他们计划将其转介至长期护理机构。
Rep. Elliot Burch, a Republican from Lucedale, testified that he received a call a year and a half ago informing him that a constituent with serious medical concerns had been released from prison to a Motel 6 on I-55 in Jackson, even though MDOC staff previously told his family they planned to refer him to long-term care.
伯起初对这个故事持怀疑态度，决定亲自调查。他前往该汽车旅馆，敲开那名男子的房门后，发现他双腿都被截肢，无法自己下床去开门。至少有一次截肢发生在该男子被密西西比州矫正部拘留期间，原因是糖尿病失控。
Burch, initially skeptical of the story, decided to investigate himself. He traveled to the motel, and after he knocked on the man’s door, he found him with both legs amputated, unable to get out of bed himself to unlock the door. At least one of the amputations occurred while the man was in MDOC custody due to uncontrolled diabetes.
该男子被送到汽车旅馆时带着胰岛素，但没有血糖仪。他唯一能吃的食物是一袋富含碳水化合物的食物，包括饼干和三明治。该男子最终因另一个问题不得不寻求紧急医疗救治，并在医院出院后被转至长期护理机构。
The man had been dropped off with insulin, but no blood glucose monitor. And the only food he had to eat was a bag packed with carbohydrate-rich foods, including crackers and sandwiches. The man ultimately had to seek emergency care for another issue and was discharged to long-term care from the hospital.
来自卢西代尔的共和党众议员史蒂夫·洛特说，他接到一名选民的电话，该选民即将从利克斯维尔南密西西比州矫正机构获释，患有包括糖尿病在内的严重健康问题。该男子假释出狱三天后，腿部被截肢。
Rep. Steve Lott, a Republican from Lucedale, said he received a call from a constituent set to be released from South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville with serious health issues, including diabetes. Three days after the man was paroled from prison, his leg was amputated.
一位母亲为帮助治疗儿子的慢性疼痛采取了绝望的措施。珀莉·怀特说，她几乎因为给儿子被关押的监狱汇款而失去了家园，因为儿子失去了关键药物的获取途径。
A mother takes desperate measures to help treat her son’s chronic pain Pearly White said she almost lost her home from sending money to the prison where her son was incarcerated after he lost access to critical medication.
她继续向立法者讲述了一个骗局：在狱警监视下，其他囚犯强迫她支付越来越多的钱，以换取非法药物，帮助她儿子缓解疼痛，而医疗官员未能妥善管理这种疼痛。“她被敲诈了，”柯里说。
She went on to tell lawmakers about a scheme where fellow prisoners, under the watch of guards, coerced her to pay them an ever-increasing sum of money for illegal drugs to help her son manage pain medical officials failed to manage. “She’s been extorted,” Currie said.
怀特的儿子在入狱时是截肢者，因多次酒驾指控，先后被关押在密西西比州帕奇曼州立监狱和马歇尔县矫正设施。他患有脊髓损伤，一直通过服用加巴喷丁（一种处方神经痛药物）来控制病情。问题始于监狱官员告知他，他们无法为他提供这种药物。
White’s son was an amputee when he went to prison, spending time at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman and Marshall County Correctional Facility after multiple DUI charges. He had spinal cord damage, a condition he managed with gabapentin, a prescription nerve-pain medication. The problems began when prison officials told him they couldn’t provide him with the drug.
怀特说，他无法正常生活，为缓解这种令人衰弱的疼痛，他转而求助于大麻。为了帮助儿子，怀特通过一款应用向监狱内部的人转账。起初她能负担这些费用，但后来对方逐渐将价格抬高至超过1000美元，并威胁要切断她儿子的药物供应。
He couldn’t function, she said, and desperate to manage the debilitating pain, he turned to marijuana. In a plea to help her son, White transferred money to people inside the prison through an app. She could afford the payments at first, but they eventually ratcheted up the price to over $1,000, threatening to cut off her son.
“他们知道自己在做什么，”怀特说。“他们有帮助。狱警们，他们知道。”怀特是一名退伍军人，在牛津担任外科技术员，她说自己为了让儿子获得应由州立监狱医疗承包商提供的治疗，已经陷入债务。
“They know what they’re doing,” White said. “They have help. The officers, they know.”White, a veteran who works as a surgical technician in Oxford, said she has plunged into debt trying to get her son treatment he should have received through the state’s prison medical contractor.
“我每天都靠着这糟糕的背部和膝盖撑起来，只为支付我因囚犯而产生的账单，因为VitalCore认为他不需要加巴喷丁，”怀特说。怀特的儿子最终出狱，现在与她同住。
“I stand up on this bad back and these bad knees every day so that I can pay the bills that I acquired from the inmates, because VitalCore didn’t think it was necessary that he have gabapentin,” White said. White’s son was eventually released from prison and now lives with her.
怀特表示，她曾向密西西比州矫正部的调查科和FBI报告了这一骗局。但截至目前，她尚未收到任何一方的回复，不知他们是否调查了她的案件或监狱内部的非法资金流动。
White said she reported the scheme to MDOC’s Corrections Investigation Division and the FBI. She’s received no word from either entity about whether they investigated her case or the illicit flow of money into prisons.
VitalCore作出回应：“我认为是时候讲述我们的故事了”在超过一小时的证人证词后，这些证人陈述了监狱医疗方面的各种问题，VitalCore的负责人首次面对立法者发言。
VitalCore responds: ‘I think it’s time to tell our story’ After over an hour of testimony from speakers outlining a wide range of prison healthcare woes, VitalCore’s leader spoke for the first time to lawmakers.
贝斯·克莱，VitalCore在密西西比州的游说代表，以高调的语气介绍了她的客户。
Beth Clay, VitalCore’s lobbyist in Mississippi, introduced her client in soaring terms.
“我要告诉你，我今天带来给你认识的人，在医疗方面有着金子般的心肠，”克莱说。
“I’m telling you, the people I’m bringing you today have hearts of gold when it comes to medical care,” Clay said.
维奥拉·里金，公司的创始人兼首席执行官，表示她不喜欢聚光灯下的感觉，但觉得公司的工作被误解了。“我觉得是时候讲述我们的故事了，”她说。
Viola Riggin, the company’s founder and CEO, said she doesn’t like the limelight, but feels her company’s work has been misrepresented. “I think it’s time to tell our story,” she said.
在回应那些作证者提出的问题之前，里金描述了她在堪萨斯州的卑微起点，她19岁时开始在矫正设施工作。她和洛蕾莱·阿蒙斯博士于2018年创立了维塔尔科，她说公司因在危机地区提供医疗服务而建立了声誉。
Before addressing the issues raised by those who testified, Riggin described her humble beginnings in Kansas, where she began her career working in correctional facilities when she was 19. She and Dr. Lorelei Ammons founded VitalCore in 2018, and the company developed a reputation for providing medical care to places in crisis, she said.
里金随后赞扬了公司在监狱医疗方面的管理，她分发了一份资料，其中包含她所说的数据，显示维塔尔科在改善州立监狱内部医疗结果方面取得了进展。
Riggin then extolled her company’s management of prison healthcare, distributing a packet with statistics she said show VitalCore has made progress improving outcomes inside state prisons.
她说，2020年，当维塔尔科获得紧急合同，为密西西比州监狱提供医疗服务时，她遇到了“糟糕”的医疗状况，因为之前的公司终止了合同。维塔尔科在2020年至2024年期间获得了超过3.15亿美元的紧急无竞标州合同。该州在2024年为该公司选定了一份价值超过3.57亿美元的三年期合同。
She said she was met with a “dire” state of care in 2020 when VitalCore was awarded an emergency contract to provide medical care in Mississippi prisons after the previous company terminated its contract. VitalCore was awarded over $315 million in emergency, no-bid state contracts from 2020 to 2024. The state selected the company for a three-year contract worth over $357 million in 2024.
她描述了医护人员严重不足、患者未能接受年度体检、HIV未得到治疗，以及六年内患者未接受乳腺X光检查以发现乳腺癌的情况。“护理不恰当，而且不可接受，”她说。
She described a dearth of medical staff, patients not receiving annual physicals, HIV going untreated and six years in which patients did not receive mammograms to detect breast cancer. “The care was not appropriate, and it was not OK,” she said.
她声称，目前医疗护理面临的许多挑战是之前承包商不当行为的残留影响。
She claimed that many of the current challenges facing medical care are residual effects of previous contractors’ impropriety.
例如，里金表示，达到合同规定的人员配备水平需要时间，尽管公司现在更好地满足了这些要求。至于维塔尔科拖欠供应商付款的指控，她说这是过去承包商行为的遗留问题——她表示公司会在90天内付清账单。
For example, Riggin said, reaching contractually obligated staffing levels took time, though the company is now better meeting the requirements. And as for allegations that VitalCore has delayed payments to vendors are vestiges of past contractors’ behavior — she said the company pays bills within 90 days.
关于丙肝治疗的争议 维塔尔科因仅为密西西比州矫正部（MDOC）诊断出患有丙肝的数百人中的少数几人提供治疗而受到批评。
Dispute over hepatitis C treatment VitalCore has drawn criticism for treating only a handful of the hundreds of people in MDOC diagnosed with hepatitis C.
VitalCore的执行运营顾问、前德克萨斯州刑事司法部执行主任布莱恩·科利尔表示，该公司每季度正在治疗50名被诊断患有丙型肝炎的患者。
Brian Collier, VitalCore’s executive operations advisor and former executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said the company is treating 50 patients diagnosed with hepatitis C each quarter.
他说，按此速度，该公司将在2029年治愈超过700名在2024年被确诊患有该疾病的患者。这不包括进入该设施的新人员，也不包括在监禁期间感染这种传染病的人。
At this rate, he said the company will by 2029 cure over 700 patients identified with the disease in 2024. This does not include new people who enter the facility or contract the contagious illness while incarcerated.
柯里对这些数字表示质疑，她引用与矫正专员伯尔·凯恩和VitalCore首席医疗官拉曼·辛格博士的谈话说，他们声称MDOC设施中有更多被监禁人员检测出该疾病呈阳性。
Currie questioned those numbers, citing conversations she had with Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain and Dr. Raman Singh, VitalCore’s chief medical officer, where they purported many more people incarcerated in MDOC facilities had tested positive for the illness.
“当我刚担任主席时，伯尔和我相处得还不错，我们进行了很多很多次讨论，他告诉我有超过5000名囚犯患有丙型肝炎，”柯里说。“有人没有说实话。”丙型肝炎是一种血液传播的感染，经过八到十二周的药物治疗，95%以上的病例可以治愈，但治疗费用高昂。
“When I first became chair, when Burl and I actually got along, we had many, many discussions, and he told me that over 5,000 inmates had hep C,” Currie said. “Somebody is not telling the truth.”Hepatitis C is a blood-borne infection that can be cured in more than 95% of cases with an eight- to 12-week course of medication, though it is costly.
州卫生官员丹·埃德尼博士表示，每年治疗固定数量的丙型肝炎患者“不可接受”，并指出，标准治疗是对这种高度传染的感染进行普遍筛查并立即治疗。
State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney said treating a fixed amount of hepatitis C patients a year is “unacceptable,” noting that the standard of care is to universally screen for the highly contagious infection and treat it immediately.
“如果不这样做，在一个封闭的人群中，你会有再次感染，”埃德尼说。
“If you don’t, with a confined population, you will have reinfection,” said Edney.
埃德尼说，他可以帮助该公司通过联邦计划以较低成本获得药物。密西西比今日报2025年报道称，卫生部向MDOC提供了如何获取折扣价格的信息，但该机构没有采取措施这样做。
Edney said he could help the company access medication at lower cost through a federal program. Mississippi Today reported in 2025 that the Department of Health provided MDOC information about how to access the discounted prices, but the agency did not take steps to do so.
一位显著的缺席者 即使在质询VitalCore的领导人并对他们的一些说法提出质疑时，立法者们仍称赞该公司至少出席了会议。
A notable no-show Even as they probed VitalCore’s leaders and questioned some of their assertions, lawmakers commended the company for at least showing up.
同样的情况不能说发生在他们雇佣他们的机构：密西西比州矫正部（MDOC）。周一下午，立法者们得知MDOC官员，尤其是凯恩，计划因其在职期间出现的问题而缺席听证会。
The same could not be said for the agency that hired them: MDOC. On Monday afternoon, lawmakers learned that MDOC officials, most notably Cain, planned to skip the hearing over the problems that have unfolded on their watch.
周二，公共卫生和矫正委员会的主席们给凯恩写了一封信，敦促他重新考虑。但他们的努力显然没有起作用，因为凯恩和机构领导人没有出现。
On Tuesday, the chairs of the Public Health and Corrections committees sent Cain a letter urging him to reconsider. But their overtures apparently fell on deaf ears, as Cain and agency leaders didn’t show up.
MDOC没有向立法者解释他们缺席的原因，也没有回应《密西西比今日报》的置评请求。
MDOC did not provide lawmakers with an explanation for their absence, and the agency did not respond to a request for comment from Mississippi Today.
“他们可能只是不想停下来坐下来和立法者谈话，我想，”来自范克利夫的共和党参议员杰里米·英格兰说。“听起来，如果他们不愿意来这里倾听，那么他们可能对我们之后所做的任何事情都无所谓。”来自杰克逊的民主党众议员克里斯·贝尔表示，他认为联合委员会应该要求凯恩出席以回答问题。
“So they just didn’t want to stop to sit and talk to legislators, I guess,” said Sen. Jeremy England, a Republican from Vancleave. “It sounds like they’ll be OK with whatever we do then if they don’t care to be here to listen.”Rep. Chris Bell, a Democrat from Jackson, said he believes the joint committee should demand Cain come before it to answer questions.
“听到我们今天所听到的所有个人的证词，而他却有胆量不出现，也不指派有人来，这完全是不尊重的，”贝尔说。“这是不可接受的。”此故事最初由《密西西比今日报》发表，并通过与美联社的合作伙伴关系进行分发。
“To hear the testimony of all the individuals that we’ve heard today and for him to have the audacity not to show, not to designate someone to come is totally disrespectful,” Bell said. “This is unacceptable.”