Where Hep C Remains Untreated For Those In Custody

For 70 Million, we take a look into the implementation of Louisiana’s Hep C Elimination Program in the prison system.

Jamila Johnson is the Managing Attorney for the Promise of Justice Initiative where she leads the Jim Crow Juries Project. She is pictured here at Clay Square in New Orleans. [photo by Zelena Williams]

Season 3, Episode 7

Sean Wesley knew he had Hepatitis C when he started serving his prison sentence in Louisiana, and spent years trying to get treatment. Despite an innovative arrangement between a drug manufacturer and the state's Department of Corrections, he was transferred from facility to facility, and even finished his sentence, without ever receiving proper care.

Public health experts say Hep C is a leading infectious killer across the globe. In the US it claims more lives than HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. It's also curable in 84 days or less. But the cure is expensive; costing between $20,000, and $30,000 for a complete course of generic treatment. In Louisiana, prisons have been accused of denying people treatment because of the expense.

My investigation took eight months in 2020, and through it, we found over half of the State Corrections population still does not have access to Hep C testing or treatment.

For a reform toolkit for incarcerated people and family of incarcerated people facing the Hep C threat, look here. For this toolkit, we compiled information for next steps, how to better understand Hep C, and how to explain Hep C to your loved one.

For an annotated transcript of the episode, look here.