Incarcerated people accrue debt for nearly all of their medical care, which, according to NCLC staff attorney Anna Anderson, author of an op-ed appearing in Inquest on September 2, 2025, this makes a mockery of their right to health care—and saddles them with devastating debt upon release.
“Despite how expensive it is, the care provided by correctional facilities is inadequate at best, and these facilities are ill-equipped to respond to the significant and growing health-care needs of a disproportionately unwell, rapidly aging incarcerated population … Given the rising costs and increased demands on the carceral health-care system, many jails and prisons have looked for ways to actively disincentivize care and shift the financial burden to incarcerated people and their families.”
Anna Anderson, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.
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