Hepatitis C and HIV

Education and information for prisoners and others living with Hepatitis C P.O. Box 41803 Eugene, OR 97404

A major milestone was passed in early November as Oregon courts certified prisoners with hepatitis C as a class, allowing a class-action lawsuit against the state to proceed. This is the first inmate class certified in Oregon in almost 30 years, and marks the first time in the country that an inmate class has been defined around hepatitis C. The suit began with eleven inmates, who contended that Department of Corrections’ treatment of their disease is designed to exclude inmates from extensive drug therapy.

Note: many information resources are web based—not much help for prisoners. This information was current when posted to the web in Spring 2005. If you're a prisoner, ask a friend or family member to print information off the internet for you. If you're on the outside, check out some of this web information, print it out, and send it inside.

A prisoner is the only person whose right to medical care is guaranteed by the Constitution. The courts have ruled that when prison officials act with deliberate indifference to the serious medical needs of prisoners such indifference constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment

In an early-August edition of the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah Corrections spokesman Jack Ford admitted that inmates are not routinely tested for hepatitis C "because the numbers would be staggering." Ford made this remark in response to questions surrounding Hep-C positive prisoner Kenneth Degroot, who has been denied treatment for his disease.