Kansas will cure the most serious of 600 inmates with hepatitis C | State News

TOPEKA, Kuwait (AP) – Nearly 600 inmates in Kansas have been tested positive for the hepatitis C virus, but prison authorities are keen to treat only the most advanced cases because they do not have the disease. Do not have the money to treat them all.

Acting Correctional Secretary Roger Werholtz told Wichita Eagle that the department wanted to ensure that all infected inmates were treated prior to their release.

"We do not want them to carry the disease out of the institution," Werholtz said.

But because of budget constraints and the high cost of treatment (a 12-week course costs about $ 15,000 per inmate), the state will focus first on the most serious cases. Werholtz said that 43 inmates are considered high priority for treatment.

The Kansas Prison Service Department estimates that treating all 591 inmates would cost about $ 9 million, and a contract between the state and Corizon Correctional Healthcare provides only $ 1.5 million a year for the treatment.

Hepatitis C is a viral infection that attacks the liver and can turn into a chronic illness. It spreads when the blood of an infected person enters the body of an uninfected person, for example when sharing needles, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Several states, including Missouri, Colorado and Illinois, have been prosecuted for alleged ill-treatment or under-treatment for prisoners with hepatitis C.

Werholtz said lawmakers have expressed concern over lack of funding for treatment.

"It seems to me that the sooner we solve this problem, the less we will have to pay for it," said Republican Senator Rick Billinger. "I think that in the future, it would save us a lot of money."

Since the Department of Corrections began testing detainees in October, 25 inmates have completed treatment and 35 are now. The agency aims to ensure that 100 inmates have completed their treatment by the end of June.