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Inside Story ·

Effort to Provide Low-Cost Health Care Behind Bars Stirs Controversy

Examining a company providing low-cost health care services at jails across the U.S., and a formerly incarcerated person shares how a mentor behind bars saved his life.

Inside Story travels to Oklahoma, where we investigate an effort to provide low-cost health care in jails, and explain why it’s stirring controversy.

Host Lawrence Bartley speaks with Bianca Tylek, an ex-banker and Harvard-trained lawyer who is leading an effort to reduce the opportunities for profit in the prison system.

In an animated essay, Rafael Rodriguez tells us about how a brush with someone on the inside helped save his life.

Recalling his experience with health care on the inside, Bartley tells the stories of some of his friends who didn’t get the care they needed and died too soon.

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CONTRIBUTORS

Belle Cushing, Cary Aspinwall, Brianna Bailey, Leslie Eaton, Dave Mann, Rochelle Widdowson, Lily Padula, K Downs, Akiba Solomon, Raghuram Vadarevu, Marci Suela, Cassandra Giraldo

REPORTING PARTNER(S)

The Frontier

Lawrence Bartley Twitter Email is the publisher of The Marshall Project Inside, the organization’s publications intended specifically for incarcerated audiences. He is an accomplished public speaker and has provided multimedia content for CNN, PBS, NBC Nightly News, MSNBC and more. News Inside is the recipient of the 2020 Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media.

Donald Washington, Jr. Email is the director and executive producer of Inside Story, a video series designed to reach audiences both inside and outside of prison walls. He is a self-taught filmmaker who honed his skills working with local Brooklyn artists and grassroots organizations. Donald holds a graduate degree from the New York Theological Seminary and a Bachelor of Science degree from Mercy College. Previously, Donald was the co-founding president of the Back-To-School Fund, a fundraising group supplementing the educational needs of children with incarcerated parents in New York State prisons. In 2015, he was presented with the Ossie Davis Award for his excellence in community service by Hudson Link for Higher Education.