Medical Services

The provision of quality health care services to communities across the country is a challenging task.  The task becomes especially difficult when the community exists within a correctional environment.  Louisiana State Penitentiary is faced with providing health care services to five-thousand inmates in a maximum security environment.  Our population tends to have many preexisting health conditions related to lifestyles, drug dependency issues, physical or mental health difficulties, along with confinement that impact the health of the population. 

The R. E. Barrow, Jr. Treatment Center, located on site, is a fully staffed medical facility employing a staff of full-time physicians, with a full complement of nursing and other medical support personnel.  Specialty clinics are held on site which make the services easily accessible to all inmates.  Clinics on site have also proven cost effective and safer for the general public.

The specialty clinics provided on site are:  Orthopedic, HIV, ENT, Neurology, Oral Surgery, Urology, General Medicine, Hepatitis, Gastroenterology, EKL Surgery, Podiatry, Minor Surgery, TB, Diabetic, Physical Therapy, and Optometry.  

Any specialty clinic that is not available at LSP is offered through the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Centers at either Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge, LA or Charity Hospital in New Orleans, LA.  The inmates are transported to these two facilities to ensure proper care and treatment.

The Medical Department on site is constantly striving to improve the medical care at the facility.  The newly established Performance Based Standards set forth by the American Correctional Association aids us in continuing to provide the community standard of care for the inmates at LSP. 

ACA Performance Based Standards

In 2002 the American Correctional Association published a new set of standards entitled Performance-Based Standards for Correctional Health Care in Adult Correctional Institutions.  Utilizing performance based standards will enable LSP to evaluate and measure the effectiveness of services.  In September 2002, LSP and R. E. Barrow, Jr. Treatment Center undertook their third re-accreditation audit and initial PBS accreditation audit concurrently (dual audit).   This evaluation provided the administration with real data upon which to base decisions. 

Hospice Program

Louisiana State Penitentiary now has one of the leading prison hospice programs in the nation.  The LSP program is being used as a model for prison hospice programs throughout the nation.  The extensive use of inmate volunteers and inmate visitors in place of, and in conjunction with, actual family visits, plus the willing and active roll of security staff, sets our program apart from other programs.  In March 2002 this program was recommended for licensure by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

Mental Health Program

The Mental Health Program at LSP provides mental health services to the inmate population based on the community standard of care, utilizing a wide array of qualified mental health professionals.

Telemedicine

The telemedicine clinics improve access to specialty health care services by providing medical consultations from Earl K. Long Medical Center and Medical Center of New Orleans.  Telemedicine allows the patient to be seen and heard while speaking with the physician at an off-site facility.  This program decreases the number of medical trips sent out each day and increases the quality of specialty services provided to LSP.  The clinics available at this time are:  Hepatitis, Hypertension, Diabetic, Pulmonary, Dermatology, and HIV.