Depriving Prisoners of Medical Care: A 'Cruel and Unusual' Punishment

Is there a right to health care? If so, who holds this right? The debate over National Health Insurance scarcely recognizes the startling fact that there already exists a well-defined group of Americans for whom access to medical treatment is not merely a right, but a constitutional right. They are prison inmates. This right, which has been developing slowly over the past decade, applies to pretrial detainees as well as sentenced prisoners in both state or federal institutions. It