On the Statesman website, there was an editorial titled “Texans Deserve Relief from Prison Health Care Costs” that was written by the Editorial Board addressing the issue of how much tax payers in Texas are paying yearly for the sick and elderly inmates of the state. The authors intended audience is all Texas tax payers who are tired of being punished by taxes while these inmates are being punished as well. It is reported that tax payers spent $1.9 million in 2011 on the top 10 most medically expensive inmates in Texas. In a way the editorial is trying to convince the audience that these inmates are not likely to be of any harm because of their age or medical condition, but what kind of message does that send out to other inmates?  That it’s ok once you are too old or sick because we will send you off to spend your last few years locked down in a nursing home? Even then we will still have to pay a portion of their health care with help from the federal government.  The author does point out that if it is a serious offender the inmate will have to wait until they only have a few months left to live before they can get a waiver for early release.  I don’t think that will be a good overall message to send out.  There is plenty of evidence that something needs to be done but I don’t think we have come up with the solution.