Lack of care in Mississippi prisons turns treatable infection into life

Only a fraction of Mississippi inmates diagnosed with hepatitis C receive treatment, which has allowed the treatable infection to develop into a life-threatening illness, interviews and documents obtained by Mississippi Today reveal.

As many as 845 people incarcerated in Mississippi Department of Corrections facilities were confirmed to be living with hepatitis C between January and March of this year, records show. During the same period, 48 people – or less than 6% with documented diagnoses – received treatment.

But in private, officials have at times cited a much higher caseload – 5,000 cases out of about 19,000 people incarcerated by the state. This suggests that public records may reveal only a small portion of a widespread hepatitis C problem in Mississippi’s prisons, a state lawma