Health care behind bars in Illinois comes with heavy financial and human costs. Since 2011 Illinois has paid Wexford Health Sources, a private company, more than a billion dollars to provide medical care to people in the state’s prisons. During that time, a federal judge determined the care was so poor it violated the U.S. Constitution, and an independent monitor has released reports documenting deaths from substandard medical care.
Wexford’s shortcomings could be measured in numbers:
